For months now, Rep. Wesley Hunt has quietly been positioning himself to run for the Senate if Sen. John Cornyn drops out of the race. But as the campaign heats up and Cornyn looks more intent on running, Hunt is getting louder about Cornyn’s electability.
His attempts to go after one of the close-knit Texas GOP’s own haven’t gone unnoticed.
“There’s 25 of us in the delegation, and I’d say he is the least liked out of everybody,” one Texas Republican said of Hunt.
Republicans are getting increasingly concerned about the Texas Senate race. Public and private polling continues to show Cornyn trailing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton significantly in the primary, and Paxton trailing notable Democrats in a hypothetical general election matchup.
The situation has led Hunt to position himself as an alternative — someone who could win both the primary and the general election. But as he tries to make that case, some Republicans think he’s overstepped his bounds.
Senior Senate and Trumpworld sources, along with members of the Texas delegation, told NOTUS they’ve become annoyed with Hunt and his efforts to undermine Cornyn. More than a half-dozen people told NOTUS it had become an issue that Texas Republicans were talking about.
One GOP operative familiar with the situation told NOTUS that Hunt’s team had managed to anger the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund.
“They’ve pissed off the White House because they’re so badgering,” this source said, noting that MAGA-aligned pollster Tony Fabrizio and former Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita are in Cornyn’s corner. “The way they’ve gone along operating is very arrogant and unsophisticated, and they’ve been told by multiple folks they need to pump the brakes.”
Hunt’s Texas colleagues tried to be more diplomatic, at least on the record.
“Wesley Hunt is a really dynamic personality,” Rep. Keith Self told NOTUS when asked about Hunt and his Senate efforts. “He’s a good member of Congress, and I will just leave it at that. Wesley Hunt’s a personality.”
“I am a huge fan of supporting the incumbent, and John Cornyn is a personal friend of mine, so I like John,” Rep. Jake Ellzey told NOTUS, giving Cornyn his first endorsement from the Texas delegation.
Other lawmakers were clear that Hunt should stay out of the race.
“So you’re gonna take on a sitting senator that’s been there for over two decades, and you’re taking on an attorney general who’s been elected? I mean, oh boy, that’d be hard,” Rep. Troy Nehls said of Hunt. “It’s gonna take millions, millions of dollars. I like Wesley, but I’ve been committed to Ken Paxton from the beginning, and I’ve saddled my horse.”
Other members said they weren’t surprised that Hunt is looking to the next big thing, saying that’s just who he is. But they expressed frustration that Hunt would work behind the scenes to undermine Cornyn.
Hunt has told people that he has no plans to get into the race unless Cornyn drops out, according to two sources familiar with the matter. But that doesn’t mean he is sitting back waiting for Cornyn — who has said he has no plans to drop out — to change his mind.
Hunt’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Texas congressman met with the White House in April to pitch himself as the best option to beat Paxton in a primary, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Hunt also met with NRSC Chair Tim Scott earlier this year, pitching the South Carolina senator on why he would be best suited to run in the race, two sources familiar with the meeting told NOTUS.
At his meeting with Hunt, Scott made it clear he was explicitly with Cornyn and had no plans to shift his support, one of the sources familiar with the meeting told NOTUS.
“Everyone, from Senate leaders and the committee orbit, have expressed to Wesley that he needs to back off,” the operative familiar with the situation told NOTUS. “It has been a haphazardly navigated six months for Wesley.”
On a call with donors earlier this year, Brendan Jaspers, the political director of the NRSC, urged donors not to back any of the House members considering a run for Senate, according to a source familiar with the call.
“Don’t support Wesley Hunt or Bill Huizenga until they’ve announced they’re running for House, not Senate,” Jaspers said on the call, according to the source.
Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said in a statement that the committee “has been very clear: John Cornyn has worked tirelessly to deliver President Trump’s agenda in the U.S. Senate, and he is the best candidate to keep Texas in the Republican Senate Majority.”
Chris Gustafson, a spokesperson for the SLF, told NOTUS that “Leader John Thune and Senate Leadership Fund support Senator John Cornyn and look forward to keeping Texas red next year.”
Throughout the year, Hunt has warned donors and the NRSC about Paxton’s general election viability, arguing that if Paxton wins the primary, Republicans will lose the seat, the operative and a second source familiar with the matter told NOTUS. The operative added that Hunt has made the argument that he is “the only candidate who can unite the party.”
Hunt’s team has also been circulating a rumor that the White House is considering Cornyn as the next NASA administrator, according to two sources and messages reviewed by NOTUS.
“No one is taking it seriously,” one source close to Trump said of the rumor that Cornyn will lead NASA. “They know where it’s coming from.”
But the rumor has taken on a life of its own, especially as members of the Texas delegation push the Trump administration to relocate NASA’s headquarters to Houston.
“Have no reason to believe there are legs at this time,” a White House official told NOTUS of the rumor.
Hunt and his team have also been running statewide ads throughout Texas to boost the congressman’s image and name recognition statewide.
“Family, faith, freedom. These are the values that define Texas, and they’re the values that define Wesley Hunt,” the ad says, seemingly trying to paint a contrast between Hunt and Paxton, who is going through a public and messy divorce.
On top of the statewide ads, Hunt’s team began placing polls in the field back in February, before Paxton’s announcement, according to a source familiar with the matter. The polls were shared with operatives around Washington, and the results mirrored those of recently released polls showing Cornyn losing to Paxton in the primary and Hunt having a better chance of beating Paxton.
“The Senate is where serious people go to serve. That’s why it’s not surprising that someone like Wesley Hunt — who is seeking counsel from former McConnell staff and misses a fifth of House votes — is delusional enough to think that he can seek a promotion to the U.S. Senate as the sole MAGA candidate in a state as large as Texas,” one senior GOP Senate source told NOTUS.
Hunt has come under fire for his missed votes. According to GovTrack, From Jan. 2023 to July 2025, he has missed 257 of the 1,459 roll call votes, roughly 18%. That is significantly higher than the 2% average among members of Congress.
Additionally, Hunt has missed the majority of votes in the House on fly-in days, missing more than 25 fly-in day roll-call votes this year, according to a review of his voting record.
With all of Paxton’s recent problems, Republicans are hopeful Cornyn can overcome the sizable deficit and win the primary. But if he doesn’t, Republicans acknowledge a third option might not be the worst thing. It just might not be Hunt.
“Even if Cornyn bows out, this is a 12-way primary and Wesley would not be immediately competitive,” the operative told NOTUS.