The NRSC penned a memo to Hunt supporters and donors earlier this month asking them to encourage Hunt to stand down from a 2026 Senate run.
Houston-area GOP Representative Wesley Hunt’s roll-call vote absences are piling up as he weighs a 2026 primary challenge to Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas), sources tell National Review.
The second-term congressman has missed 281 of 1,505 of eligible roll call votes between January 2023 and September 2025, which averages to 18.7 percent of all roll call votes during his brief tenure in office. That figure is much lower than the median 2 percent lifetime roll call vote figure in Congress, according to GovTrack.
By comparison, Cornyn has missed 176 of 7,781 roll call votes between January 2003 and September 2025, according to GovTrack. That 2.3 percent lifetime score is lower than the median 2.8 percent lifetime roll call vote absence score for most senators.
In April, Hunt reportedly discussed a potential 2026 Senate run with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff James Blair, according to the Associated Press. Hunt has spent recent months running ads that promote his military background, young family, and ties to President Trump.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (the Senate GOP’s campaign arm) are supporting Cornyn’s reelection bid amid a tough primary challenge from the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton.
The NRSC penned a memo to Hunt supporters and donors earlier this month asking them to encourage Hunt to stand down from a 2026 Senate run. “We urge donors and allies to deliver this message directly — tell Wesley Hunt to protect his seat and back Senator John Cornyn,” the memo said. “It’s time for the vanity project that could cost Republicans control of the Senate and dilute our resources to end.”
Trump has not picked a favorite in the primary. “Well, I’ll make up my mind — I like them both,” Trump said in the Oval Office in August, pressed by National Review about whether he plans to endorse Cornyn or Paxton. “The worst situation I have is when I have two people that I get along with. Well, I hate it, and they all want the endorsement.”