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FIRST ON FOX: The main battle for Senator John Cornyn's seat in Texas continues to riot As a newly announced candidate, Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, blasted the incumbent in an interview with Fox News Digital, saying the Republican Party has “abandoned him.”
Hunt, who took part in the race earlier this monthdidn't mince words when he criticized Cornyn over Donald Trump's alleged anti-Presidential voting record and pointed to a number of Trump's Truth Social posts and reposts from 2023.
“John Cornyn has spent $35 million over the last few months to still be in third place and have a rating in the mid-30s,” Hunt told Fox News Digital. “Another 20% undecided electoratewhich means there’s clearly a place for us.”
Texas has found thousands of illegal immigrants registered to vote on the state's voter rolls.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R) criticized Sen. John Cornyn (D) for his alleged voting record against President Donald Trump. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I entered this race to give the true conservative Texan a choice,” Hunt continued. “And this will be between me and Ken Paxton, because unfortunately for John Cornynhe won't make it in time. This party abandoned him.”
Cornyn responded to Hunt's claims in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling the congressman a “show horse.”
“Senator Cornyn voted yes President Trump He was in the White House 99.3% of the time,” Matt Mackowiak, a senior adviser to the Cornyn campaign, told Fox News Digital. “Wesley Hunt Calls President Trump a Liberal? Wesley Hunt voted for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and did not vote for Trump in November 2016.”
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Senate candidate Welsey Hunt will also face Ken Paxton in the GOP primary. Potential support for President Trump could play a big role in the election. (From left to right: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Thasos Katopodis/Getty Images; MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“He missed 27% of all House votes THIS YEAR when President Trump needed him by 2 or 3 seats,” Maczowiak continued. “While show horses like Wesley Hunt talk, Senator Cornyn is working to effectively represent Texas, secure conservative victories and advance the Trump agenda.”
Hunt criticized Cornyn for the voting record, which the senator defended, saying the sitting president does not support Trump and is lying about his voting history.
“He didn't support the president while he was trying to run ads and says he voted for President Trump 99% of the time,” Hunt told Fox News Digital. “We all know that this is an outright lie. We also know that his Freedom Score is 54%.”
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“We also know that he is one of the most liberal senators in the entire Senate on the Republican side,” Hunt added. “And he has been on the partisan side and on the RINO side for decades. We already know this. And the best thing about the primary voter here in Texas is that it is a highly informed voter.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Mike Seegar/Reuters)
Hunt also pointed to several Truth Social posts published by then-President Donald Trump in 2023 that described how they were joined by a “RINO” and a “hopeless” John Cornyn. Senator Mitch McConnellRepublican from Kentucky, in “an attempt to force a series of massive concessions to Crying Chuck Schumer and the lunatics on the left.”
Trump also hit out at Cornyn. gun control, declaring on June 22, 2022 that “RINO Senator John Cornyn of Texas” will “go down in history as the first step in the movement to TAKE YOUR GUN AWAY.”
Hunt would have become the state's first Black elected official if he had defeated Cornyn and the other primary challenger, incumbent state Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the primary.
When asked what such a historic victory means for the race, Hunt told Fox News Digital that being the state's first Black elected official is “not important to me.”
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“The most important thing to me is the fact that I am an American, and people will vote for me because of how I feel about conservatism, how I feel about Texas, and they will judge me not by the color of my skin, but by the content of my character,” Hunt explained.
Paxton could not be reached for comment.
Preston Mizell is a Fox News Digital correspondent covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and X @MizellPreston.
