U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales eked out a win against gun-toting social media influencer Brandon Herrera by a margin of 407 votes in Tuesday's GOP primary runoff election, surviving attacks from ultraconservatives over his votes for gun safety, gay marriage and immigration reform legislation.
Gonzales' win in Texas' deep-red 23rd Congressional District means the 43-year-old Navy veteran will likely return to the Capitol for a third term next year. Gonzales enjoyed high-profile endorsem*nts from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
The victory could allow Gonzales to put some criticism behind him, though the close election after an expensive and vitriolic race suggests there is an appetite among Gonzales' constituents for a further-to-the-right approach to policies. In a post-race news conference Wednesday, the incumbent defended both his GOP bona fides and a balanced approach to governance.
"I have a very conservative voting record and I will continue to have a very conservative voting record, but I also want to solve problems," he said. "I'm pragmatic in how I deliver things. I will sit down with anyone; I don't care where they fall on the political spectrum. ... I think there's not a lot of people willing to do that right now."
His opponent — a 28-year-old recent transplant from North Carolina who dubbed himself "The AK Guy" on social media — made significant gains during the runoff period and on election day, diminishing Gonzales' lead among early voters to less than one percentage point in the final count. All told, Gonzales won 50.7% of the votes in Congressional District 23, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso, and Herrera won 49.3%.
Herrera's campaign did not respond to the Statesman's request for comment.
Gonzales and Herrera ended in a primary runoff after the incumbent received only 45.1% share of the GOP primary vote in March, with Herrera coming in second place after winning 24.6% support in the five-candidate race.
On Tuesday, Gonzales had the strongest showings in Uvalde and Bexar Counties; voters in El Paso County and some smaller, more rural counties in the district preferred Herrera. As is typical for primary runoff elections, overall turnout was low, with 5.84% of registered voters casting a ballot compared to more than 11% on March 5.
While Gonzales didn't comment directly on the closeness of the race's results or mention his opponent by name in his post-race conference Wednesday, Gonzales said he would argue that District 23 is "the toughest district in America" and described the "major crises" that have hit the region, including the Robb Elementary School massacre in May 2022 and the deaths of 53 migrants in a tractor-trailer near San Antonio the same year.
"We have gone to bat," he said Wednesday. "It wasn't just words. It wasn't just TV. It was literally ground to ground, block by block, kind of a knife fight, and I knew exactly that's what it was going to take because my first election was a runoff."
Herrera drew endorsem*nts from Gonzales' far-right critics, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Texas Rep. Chip Roy, and from groups including the National Association for Gun Rights. Gonzales was the only congressional incumbent from Texas to face a primary runoff this year.
Herrera and his newfound allies attacked Gonzales for voting for the Safer Communities Act, a bipartisan gun safety bill passed in 2022 in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, which is part of Gonzales' congressional district.
The 33-year-old YouTuber also piled onto criticism over his support for gay marriage and immigration reform bills. All three votes led the Texas Republican Party to censure Gonzales in March 2023.
Gonzales, for his part, slammed Herrera for his comments on a podcast joking about veteran suicide and for other controversial comments.
In an ad and a news release featuring military veterans, the incumbent referenced a February podcast episode in which Herrera said, “If it makes everyone in the room feel better, I often think about putting a gun in my mouth. So I’m basically an honorary veteran.” Herrera later said it was "military humor" and that he had family members in the military.
"Brandon Herrera is not a veteran. He’ll never know what a veteran goes through when he wakes up in the morning or when she is trying to fall asleep at night," Gonzales wrote in a May 16 news release, which cited a letter of support from more than 100 Texas veterans. "His approach to veteran suicide — mocking and laughing about it — is a slap in the face to veterans and all those currently serving."
Gonzales also called the influencer a "known neo-Nazi" in a CNN interview. Herrera rejected that label in a social media post a week later.
"My entire political philosophy is the OPPOSITE of fascism," Herrera wrote on X. "I want to reduce government in every way possible, the total opposite of Hitler’s National Socialism."
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Abbott, Patrick and Johnson all came to Gonzales' aid after he was forced into a runoff, with Johnson flying to Texas to stump for Gonzales. The incumbent thanked the Texas officials and his other supporters, including the National Border Patrol Council and San Antonio police and firefighter associations, during his post-race news conference.
Gonzales said the runoff made him more "sharp" and that he'll look for ways to win over and represent those who voted against him.
"This is about basically being humble and going, 'Alright, now how do I listen to the other folks that did not cast their vote for me this round? Why didn't they cast their vote for me?'" he said Wednesday. "In America, so many people are so upset because they don't feel as if they're represented, and we want to change that ... And it can't just be words, it has to be actions."
