Inside Texas Politics — Full interview on Senate campaign polls numbers with US Rep. Wesley Hunt

[0:00] Congressman, welcome to the program here. [0:01] Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. [0:03] Polls show anywhere from third place to statistical tie. [0:06] Where do you think you realistically are right now in this competitive and combative race? [0:11] Well, I think realistically now, I think I must be in second place or close to first place [0:16] because just in the last couple of weeks, both of my opponents are spending about $3 million hitting me across statewide. [0:22] And so I feel like if I were in third place, like some polls might suggest, they wouldn't be spending this kind of money. [0:28] And as a former Apache helicopter pilot, as a West Point grad, as a guy that flew 55 combative missions in Baghdad, [0:34] here's what I realized. I am right over the target zone and doing exactly what I need to do. [0:40] I am the only candidate that's actually running a campaign. [0:43] I'm the only one that's actually traveling around Texas and actually answering the questions of the people on the ground. [0:49] And clearly it's working because they wouldn't be spending millions of dollars hitting me. [0:53] What does internal polling show right now? [0:54] It shows us strongly in second place, which again, that would corroborate the idea of us being hit. [1:00] And then there were two polls that came out. [1:02] It was a signal poll that came out that had me in second place. [1:06] This is just about six or seven days ago. [1:09] And there was another poll that came out that also had me in second place. [1:13] And so what I like to see is this. [1:14] When I first got this race, this was supposed to be a vanity project, [1:18] is what leadership said in SLF and the NRSC and John Cornyn said that nobody knows who I am [1:24] and that there's no way that Wesley Hunt has a shot at this. [1:27] And then we started taking our message directly to the Texans. [1:29] And now they're spending money against me. [1:32] And I'm ecstatic about that because it means that we're heading in the right direction. [1:36] And we're going to continue to travel all over the state for the next two weeks to get the job done. [1:40] The last public poll out from the University of Houston, Hobby School of Public Affairs, showed you third place. [1:46] Do you take any credence in that poll? [1:48] Is your internal polling showing something different? [1:50] It's really interesting about that poll as well. [1:51] That's the exact same poll that also did general election ballot testing. [1:55] And I am polling ahead of Ken and John against James Tallarico or Jasmine Crockett in that exact same poll, [2:03] which tells me that that was a public poll that was done for the general election, not for the primary. [2:10] And there's also a reason why John Cornyn has spent over $80 million in this race and is polling in the 20s. [2:16] And we know he's polling in the 20s. [2:18] That's why he's continuing to spend this much money. [2:21] At some point, it becomes the law of diminishing returns. [2:24] And the people here in Texas do not want D.C. to buy their next senator. [2:29] We are well aware of what's going on, and we need to bring more Texas to D.C., not the other way around. [2:34] He's been around for long enough. [2:35] 24 years is actually too long. [2:37] I am also somebody that's running on term limits. [2:40] I'm going to do two terms, 12 years, and that's long enough. [2:44] That's what our founding fathers wanted it to be. [2:46] And at the end of the day, it's time for people to go to D.C., make some good laws, and then return back home. [2:52] That ensures that you make good laws because you have to live with the laws that you make. [2:56] When you're around D.C. for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, you don't care about the laws that you make. [3:01] You actually lose touch with the everyday Texan, as John Cornyn has done, and that's why we're in this position right now. [3:07] I've talked to you before, and I've heard you on TV and in other interviews attack Senator Cornyn a lot. [3:12] I haven't heard you say as much about Ken Paxton. [3:14] Why shouldn't Republican primary voters vote for Ken Paxton? [3:17] Well, the thing is, is I'm not going for Ken Paxton's job. [3:20] I don't want to be the attorney general. [3:21] I want to be the next senator from Texas, and currently that person is John Cornyn. [3:25] And that's exactly what I am trying to articulate to the people, and I'm not going to go after ad hominem attacks or personal attacks or go after people's personal lives. [3:35] I want to talk about policy. [3:36] I want to talk about how you co-authored gun control legislation. [3:39] I want to talk about how you co-authored a bill that allowed 50,000 Afghans to enter this country without being properly vetted. [3:46] I want to talk about how I was the first person in the country to endorse President Trump on this last cycle, and he didn't endorse him until over a year later. [3:53] I want to talk about how he is one of two Republican incumbents that still has not been endorsed by President Trump in spite of him asking President Trump numerous times. [4:03] I want to talk about the actual issues. [4:05] What I heard from a young lady as I've been on the trail and comparing me and General Paxton was this. [4:11] They said, look, we know Ken's a true conservative. [4:14] We know you are a real conservative, given your voting record, being one of the most conservative in all of Texas. [4:19] But he said, in a couple of years, Ken Paxton is going to require Social Security. [4:25] And then after six years, one term, we're going to be having the exact same conversation that we're having about John Cornyn right now. [4:32] And if you didn't exist, I would choose Ken. [4:34] But because you do, I want to choose the young conservative option for the future. [4:38] There's a reason why our vice president is 41 years old. [4:41] There's a reason why our secretary of state is in his early 50s. [4:43] There's a reason why our secretary of war is in his mid-40s. [4:46] I think it's time to turn the page on career politicians, and that's exactly what Ken and John are. [4:52] Congressman, the voters walk into a polling place this week here, early voting underway. [4:56] What's the one thing you want Republican primary voters to know about Wesley Hunt? [5:00] I'm somebody that's going to die for this country. [5:02] I'm somebody that served this country in combat. [5:05] Somebody that loves this country dearly. [5:06] And I have skin in the game because I have three young babies that I've got to look at every single day [5:10] and tell them that I want to leave this place better than I found it. [5:14] There are a lot of lies that are being told and are being spread about me. [5:18] But thank God I'm somebody that's served in combat because I can take it and I can deal with it [5:21] and we will continue to forge ahead. [5:23] I'm somebody that wants to take Texas values to D.C. [5:26] and I will never forget who I work for and I will never forget what I represent. [5:31] And I am the only one, I am the only one in this race that raised his hand to defend this country [5:36] against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. [5:38] Neither Ken or John can say that they're willing to bleed for this country. [5:41] Three weeks from Election Day, though, it's a competitive race. [5:45] Three people in this race. [5:47] Three conservatives in this race. [5:48] Real conservatives here. [5:49] Well, two, but yeah. [5:50] Well, three people on the ballot here, too. [5:54] Let me ask you this. [5:55] What does a victory look like come March 3rd, though? [5:57] What does victory look like as far as you're concerned? [6:00] Victory for me looks like I've already won because I followed my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [6:05] to take on this endeavor. [6:06] And no matter how it ends, it's going to end the way he wants it to end. [6:10] And I listened, he ordered my steps in his word, and I'm going to be satisfied with whatever the outcome [6:16] because I did the right thing to give the people of Texas a true conservative option. [6:21] And I am very, very pleased with that. [6:23] And no matter what the outcome is, I'm a believer in Christ, so I always win. [6:27] We started the interview talking about how much spending there is against you right now. [6:31] I think $3 million in attack ads against you right now. [6:33] And some of those ads, especially from Senator Cornyn, really focus on you missing votes in Washington, D.C. [6:39] Is the campaign for Senate taking your attention away from your responsibilities in the House? [6:44] Absolutely not. [6:45] How do you justify those? [6:47] It's a great question. [6:48] Anytime the president or the speaker of the House has needed my vote on a consequential vote, I was there. [6:54] I got on the plane, canceled my events, and I got up there and I got there immediately. [6:57] How many votes did J.D. Vance miss when he was tapped to be the VP for President Trump? [7:03] All of them. [7:05] And do you know why? [7:05] Because you can't be in two places at one time, and the people of Texas want to term limit John Cornyn. [7:10] And in order to do that, I have to travel around and be in as many counties and as many media markets as possible [7:16] so they can hear my message that I want to take the Texans to be their next senator. [7:21] Do you know how many times I've been asked about this when I'm talking to people in small groups across the state of Texas? [7:27] Never. [7:27] You know what they don't want? [7:29] They don't want a senator that's going to co-author gun control legislation. [7:33] And if it means that I'm missing some votes in order to continue to ensure that that doesn't happen again in Texas, [7:37] I think they're okay with it. [7:39] Another line of attack that people are seeing on TV, especially from Senator Cornyn, [7:43] is going after your conservative credentials, saying that you backed President Obama [7:48] and that you supported him when he was running. [7:51] Do you regret those positions now? [7:52] First of all, that's a lie. [7:54] I never voted for Barack Obama. [7:56] I participated in Operation Chaos. [7:57] I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2008, like thousands of brave patriots. [8:02] And also, at the end of the day, they are conflating the idea of me voting for Hillary Clinton against President Trump in 2016. [8:08] I can assure you that I voted for President Trump in 2016, and I have the proof. [8:13] I also voted for President Trump in 2020 when he endorsed me in 2020 when I ran for Congress. [8:18] And then in 2024, I was the first person in the country to endorse President Trump. [8:23] And the reason why John Cornyn is in this position is because he's trying to call me a rhino, [8:29] but at the end of the day, it's just self-reflection. [8:31] Everyone knows that he is, and that's why he has spent $80 million and, again, is polling in the 20s. [8:36] You should not be a 24-year incumbent in this and battled in a Republican primary. [8:42] Interesting point. [8:43] The 2016 ballot, was that a provisional ballot that was rejected, though, for President Trump? [8:48] It was a provisional ballot that I cast for President Trump that ultimately, apparently, ultimately was. [8:53] But here's what I want people to know. [8:55] I voted for President Trump. [8:57] I cast a ballot for President Trump. [8:58] It was my first year living in Houston, Texas, after leaving the military and then going to graduate school. [9:05] And I went to the booth to go cast a vote for President Trump, and it is a lie to say that I didn't. [9:11] And like I said, we have the proof. [9:13] Biggest misconception voters have about you right now, what do you think that is? [9:16] Because they're seeing a lot of attack ads against you. [9:19] Well, I think the biggest misconception is that the people are going to see right through it, and they already are. [9:24] Any time you have a guy like John Cornyn, who clearly has been discredited amongst the Republican primary voter, [9:30] going after a young combat veteran who was the first person in the country to endorse President Trump, [9:36] who was one of his top surrogates, actually, over the course of the past year, [9:39] which is another reason why I missed some votes. [9:41] You see, when the president asks you to go to Allentown, Pennsylvania, give a speech on his behalf, [9:46] you get up and you do it, as long as you're not missing a consequential vote. [9:50] And the biggest misconception that people might have is this. [9:53] I have one of the most conservative voting records in all of Texas. [9:56] My Liberty score is in the high 90s, and John Cornyn's Liberty score is 54%, [10:01] and that's why he is unacceptable to be the next senator from Texas. [10:05] A couple of questions about news of the day here, too. [10:08] I want to ask you about the social media post from President Trump that depicted President Obama and the First Lady as monkeys. [10:13] Did you find that racist at all? [10:15] Actually, I watched the entire video, and if you watched the entire video, [10:19] it was depicting many Democrats in the vein of Lion King, [10:23] and the fact that they were just going to take one snippet of that [10:26] and then try to paint a brush and say that all of a sudden President Trump is a racist guy, I think is ridiculous. [10:31] I think people stopped listening to legacy media a long time ago and stopped trusting that fact. [10:36] Here's what I know. [10:37] The president has invited me to travel with him multiple times. [10:42] He's been nothing but kind to my family. [10:44] He's been nothing but good to me. [10:46] He has been nothing but kind to my wife, and even on one campaign stop, [10:51] stopped in my wife's hometown of Maquoketa, Iowa. [10:55] Does that sound like somebody who's racist? [10:56] And last I checked, I've been black for my entire life. [10:59] What I do is I take how people treat me personally, [11:03] and I don't really care what people say about them online. [11:05] I know President Trump, and he's been very good to me. [11:07] One of your colleagues, Tim Scott, said he found it racist, though. [11:11] Are you surprised at that? [11:12] I mean, I thank God that Tim Scott can speak for himself. [11:16] I have absolutely nothing to say about that. [11:18] He's a grown man, can speak for himself. [11:20] He's wrong, and I think we all know that he's wrong at this point. [11:24] And look, either you believe the president is racist or you believe that he is not. [11:29] I don't believe he's not. [11:30] I know he's not. [11:32] Two last questions here. [11:33] The Epstein files. [11:34] The DOJ has released a little more than half the files. [11:35] Many Americans, including a lot of Republicans, say, where's the rest of it? [11:39] Where do you stand on this issue? [11:40] I don't release all the files. [11:41] I have nothing against that. [11:42] In fact, if you recall, we actually voted on this in the House of Representatives, [11:46] and everybody thought that President Trump wasn't going to allow it to happen, [11:49] and voila, he did. [11:51] And I think what has to happen, though, is that we also have to be careful [11:55] to protect the victims that are in there as well. [11:57] So we have to be careful with information flow and the dissemination of information, [12:01] you know, because that's actually what we're dealing with with Senator Cornyn's team [12:04] who actually released my personal information on Twitter or on X. [12:09] This is the kind of issues that we have to be cognizant for and be aware of. [12:13] Look, the people want to hear the truth, [12:14] but we also have to protect the victims that are in there as well. [12:17] And, Congressman, the last thing I want to ask you about is the partial government shutdown [12:20] at the Department of Homeland Security. [12:21] Do you see any movement at all for Republicans to get a deal done [12:26] to start paying TSA, Secret Service, et cetera? [12:29] A deal is going to get done. [12:32] I'm very confident. [12:32] How long will it take? Any idea? [12:33] Well, that's up to the Senate, and this is why I'm actually running for Senate, [12:35] because I want to make sure that we keep the government open. [12:38] Congressman, good to see you. Thanks for the time. [12:39] Of course. God bless you. Thank you for having me, sir, as always.