Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) rejected a question suggesting the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision would eliminate Black Republicans from the House, saying his office is defined by qualifications and voter choice, not race. He highlighted that his White-majority district leans strongly Republican and cited his margin of victory as evidence. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana’s second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, narrowing how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be applied in redistricting.
Rep. Wesley Hunt Rebukes Race-Based Framing After Supreme Court Ruling on Louisiana Redistricting
Rep. Wesley Hunt speaks during an interview with MeidasTouch's Pablo Manríquez as he responds to questions on race and representation in Congress.(Getty Images)
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) pushed back sharply during a Wednesday interview when MeidasTouch host Pablo Manríquez asked whether the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais would leave no Black Republicans in the U.S. House.
Hunt rejected the premise of the question and emphasized that his office is defined by voter choice and qualifications, not racial identity. "It's not relevant. I'm not here because I'm Black," he said. "I am here because I am a qualified representative for Congressional District 38."
On Representation and Voter Choice
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., following a ruling that narrowed the use of race in congressional redistricting under the Voting Rights Act.
Hunt framed his response around the idea that electoral outcomes should reflect voters' preferences rather than being driven primarily by racial considerations. "The American people choose who they want to choose," he said. "I don’t want to get into this game of race bait all day, every day." He added that the number of Black Republicans in Congress is not the sole metric of meaningful representation: "If there’s four? If there’s 10? If there’s none?"
Local Context
To underline his point, Hunt noted the partisan lean of his own district, describing it as a White-majority seat that he said President Trump would have carried by more than 20 percentage points while Hunt won by over 25. He concluded by invoking Martin Luther King Jr.'s standard: "I’m being judged not by the color of my skin, but the content of my character."
Congressional districts across the United States are reshaped during the redistricting process, a central issue in ongoing Voting Rights Act disputes.
Supreme Court Ruling
The exchange came shortly after a 6-3 Supreme Court decision that found Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The ruling narrows how Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act can be used in redistricting disputes by limiting reliance on race when drawing district lines.
The case focused on a congressional map that created a second majority-Black district after litigation under the Voting Rights Act; challengers argued the state placed too much emphasis on race when drawing the boundaries. The decision arrives amid nationwide debate and ongoing legal battles over race-conscious districting and its role in electoral outcomes.
Fox News Digital reached out to Rep. Hunt for comment but had not received an immediate response.
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