Rep. Wesley Hunt wants Texas Republicans to look at Sen. John Cornyn's record and draw the obvious conclusion. So he brought two donkeys to make the point.

Hunt released a new campaign ad Thursday evening, shared first with Breitbart News, that takes direct aim at Cornyn's legislative history on gun control, immigration, and Afghan resettlement. The spot features Hunt standing in a field beside a fence with two donkeys, the Democratic Party's mascot, as he ticks through the incumbent senator's bipartisan résumé.

"I'm Wesley Hunt, and this is who John Cornyn partnered with for gun control, amnesty, and allowed 50,000 Afghan migrants into this country."

The punchline lands clean: "Vote like a Democrat, act like a Democrat. Must be a Democrat."

The ad is set to run across digital platforms and television as the March 3 Republican primary barrels closer, with Hunt, Cornyn, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton locked in a three-way race that could easily head to a runoff.

The Record Hunt Is Running Against

What makes Hunt's ad effective isn't the donkeys. It's that the legislative receipts are real.

Cornyn co-authored the Safer Communities Act with then-Rep. Colin Allred, a Texas Democrat. Hunt's campaign says the bill included red-flag provisions and advanced with Democrat support. For a Republican senator representing Texas, the Second Amendment state, co-authoring gun legislation with a Democrat is the kind of decision that doesn't age well in a primary.

Then there's immigration. Cornyn sponsored S. 1387 during the 108th Congress, a temporary guestworker program that critics have called an "amnesty-on-installment framework." He also partnered with Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, on the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act, which Hunt's campaign ties to 50,000 Afghan migrants entering the country.

Gun control with a Democrat co-author. Immigration legislation with a California progressive. Afghan resettlement at scale. Each item alone might survive a primary. Stacked together, they form a pattern that's difficult to explain to a Republican electorate that has spent the last decade demanding its representatives stop cutting deals that advance the left's priorities.

Hunt Goes on Offense

In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Hunt didn't mince words about the ad or his opponent's campaign tactics.

"Unlike Cornyn's campaign, which has flooded social media with ridiculous AI-generated attack ads, this video tells the truth."

He also delivered a line that doubled as both humor and indictment:

"Much like donkeys, facts are stubborn things. John Cornyn partnered with Democrats to pass red-flag laws that threaten our Second Amendment rights. He authored legislation to bring 50,000 unvetted Afghan migrants into our country. He has consistently supported open-border, globalist policies that put Texas last."

And then the closer, perfectly pitched for a campaign ad of its own: "Texas voters have been harmed by Cornyn's record for decades; fortunately, no animals were harmed during the filming of this advertisement."

Say what you will about the format. The man understands tone.

Where the Race Stands

A February 5 survey from J.L. Partners showed Paxton narrowly leading the field, with Hunt and Cornyn essentially tied behind him. The favorability numbers tell a sharper story:

• Hunt: +42 net favorability
• Paxton: +27 net favorability
• Cornyn: +14 net favorability

For a three-term incumbent senator, a net favorability of +14 among your own party's primary voters is not a position of strength. It's a flashing warning light. Hunt nearly triples that number. The gap suggests that Texas Republicans know Cornyn, and a significant share of them have decided they've seen enough.

President Trump has not endorsed in the race. If no candidate crosses the 50 percent threshold on March 3, the top two advance to a runoff later this spring.

The Bigger Problem for Establishment Republicans

The Hunt ad works because it exploits a vulnerability that extends well beyond one Senate race. Republican voters have grown deeply skeptical of incumbents who build their legislative legacy on bipartisan deals that consistently move policy leftward. Bipartisanship is not a virtue when it means your side does the compromising and the other side cashes the check.

Cornyn's record is a case study. The Safer Communities Act didn't get Republican gun owners anything they wanted. The Afghan resettlement effort didn't come with the kind of vetting guarantees that would satisfy a security-conscious electorate. The guestworker legislation from two decades ago reads, in retrospect, like an early draft of the amnesty framework that Republican primary voters have been rejecting ever since.

Hunt framed the choice plainly in his statement:

"On March 3rd, voters will choose strength over weakness. Leadership over complacency. The future over the past."

That's the argument distilled. Not ideology versus ideology, but a generational challenge to a senator whose deal-making instincts consistently placed him closer to Democrat priorities than to the voters he's asking to re-elect him.

Texas Republicans will decide on March 3 whether the donkeys in Hunt's ad were props or an accurate diagnosis.