During the Korean War, Hunt served in two divisions of the U.S. Army, earning the certificate of achievement for outstanding performance of military duty and the distinguished service medal.

After his military service, Hunt returned to his family farm at Holly Pond and eventually was formally ordained as a minister in the Primitive Baptist Church.

Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act caused many Democrats to split the ticket and vote for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater that year, and Hunt was one of several Republicans swept into office on Goldwater's coattails making him the youngest probate judge in Alabama.

In the 1978 Alabama gubernatorial election, Hunt was the Republican nominee for governor, but he lost in a massive landslide to then-Democrat Fob James.

After Reagan won the US election in 1980, he appointed Hunt as the Alabama State Director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee.

Concurrently, the Democratic primary saw then Alabama Attorney General Charles Graddick in a runoff with Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley.

However, Baxley sued, claiming that Graddick violated primary regulations by encouraging Republicans to "cross over" and vote as Democrats.

Hunt's election surprised many Alabamians since the last Republican governor had left office 113 years earlier, at the end of Reconstruction.

[9] In April 1998, having served his full sentence and paid his fine, the parole board granted Hunt a pardon.