U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) says it’s time for a new generation of leadership in Texas — and he’s not pulling punches against his two high-profile Republican rivals.
The two-term Houston congressman and Army veteran entered the 2026 U.S. Senate race this week, joining incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a primary contest that has already fractured the state’s Republican base.
In an interview with The Dallas Express, Hunt said the GOP primary “cannot be about a blood feud between two men” but should focus on “the issues that are most important to Texans.”
“This race will finally be about what’s most important — Texas,” Hunt said. “Nobody is talking about the border. Nobody is talking about the oil and gas industry. Nobody is talking about safety.”
Gun Rights
Hunt sharply criticized Cornyn’s record on firearms, saying his first act as a senator would be to repeal the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a 2022 law that Cornyn helped pass and that expanded background checks for gun buyers under 21, among other measures.
“That will be my first order of business when I’m a senator — to repeal that legislation,” Hunt said. “Let me be absolutely 100% clear: No compromise. Absolutely zero compromise. I will not compromise our Second Amendment rights.”
The congressman described himself as an “AR-15 owner” and rejected any future gun control efforts. “I am under no circumstances going to take guns out of the hands of good people,” he said.
Illegal Immigration
Hunt called for ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, saying it was “not going to work for me.”
“I’m a direct descendant of a slave, and that’s when birthright citizenship was actually enacted to protect freed slaves,” he said. “Moving to this country, having children, and then those children getting the same rights of descendants of those that were slaves in this country is not going to work for me.”
He also expressed support for using the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy federal troops for interior immigration enforcement, an idea reportedly being weighed by President Donald Trump.
“I do, of course I do,” Hunt said. “This is the act of the federal government to keep our people safe, period … American lives are being saved. This is a very popular approach for us.”
Legal Immigration
Hunt said he supports reforming, not abolishing, visa programs such as the EB-5 and H-1B systems, which allow foreign investors and skilled workers to enter the United States.
“These programs should absolutely be reformed,” he said. “It can’t be a gateway drug to illegal immigration.”
Hunt said he wants “American citizens taking priority to have opportunities to earn a wage in this country,” adding that companies should be incentivized to hire domestic workers instead of relying on cheaper foreign labor. He praised efforts by the Trump administration to make companies like Facebook pay more for H-1B visas.
President Donald Trump proposed significantly higher employer fees for H-1B visas, according to prior reporting by The Dallas Express.
The H-1B program has been under recent bipartisan scrutiny as top Senate Democrats have reportedly joined Republicans in condemning a pattern from tech firms that lay off Americans while simultaneously applying for more H-1B workers.
He declined to take a firm stance on the so-called “gold card visa” — a proposed program offering long-term residency to wealthy immigrants — saying he would “revert back to the president’s guidance.”
Energy and the Environment
Calling the oil and gas industry “the most important industry in the entire world,” Hunt said he favors reducing regulation, expanding natural gas exports, and maintaining an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.
“I am fine with carbon capture as long as the government doesn’t pick winners and losers,” he said. “Let the market decide. Let the market pick winners and losers.”
He described Texas as blessed with natural resources and said he supports innovation in nuclear, wind, and solar energy but rejects the notion of an “energy transition.”
“There is no replacing hydrocarbon,” Hunt said. “There’s no replacing oil. There is no energy transition. There’s only energy addition.”
Power Grid
Hunt linked Texas’s power grid problems to overregulation and said increased natural gas production could provide a redundancy to prevent blackouts. He also applauded the emerging partnership between artificial intelligence firms and energy producers.
“AI data centers next to energy-producing places where the land is cheaper and there is an abundance of extra natural gas to power it — I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “At the federal level, let’s reduce regulation to make that easier.”
Attendance Record and Legislative Priorities
Hunt addressed a recent National Review report alleging he missed 18% of votes in the House, attributing many absences to his son’s hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit and his work as a top surrogate for Trump.
“Yes, it’s important to make votes,” he said. “But it’s less important about making votes and more important about the votes that you take. The votes that I have taken make me one of the top three most conservative members of Congress.”
Foreign Policy
A West Point graduate and former Apache helicopter pilot who flew 55 combat missions in Iraq, Hunt said his foreign policy views are rooted in his military experience and two years serving as a diplomatic liaison officer in Saudi Arabia.
“When we send troops to war, I am going to be the person that’s going to have to be a high level of scrutiny to pass my smell test,” he said. “It better be a justified cause when all efforts of peace have been exhausted.”
Hunt praised Trump’s recent peace deal in Gaza and said his own approach would “fall right in line” with the president’s focus on diplomacy backed by strength.
“The idea of not picking winners and losers but being on the side of people not dying — that’s kind of my mantra,” Hunt said. “We need to have a very strong military … so when they are called upon, we are able to strike with extreme prejudice and lethality.”
The Texas GOP primary is scheduled for March 3, 2026, with a runoff in May if no candidate secures a majority. The Dallas Express will continue covering developments in the 2026 Texas Senate race.