Texas’ Republican Primary election is less than a week away. The Texas delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives has 38 members. That’s second only to California. Twenty-five of the Texas reps are Republican; 13 are Democrats.
Texas District 23 is big. Covering most of the southwest part of the state, its land area is about half the size of Georgia’s. It’s pretty much wide-open spaces with a fairly low population density.
District 23 has been a competitive seat for Republicans. Since January 2021, Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio native and Navy veteran, has represented District 23 in the House. Gonzales is a centrist-moderate Republican.
In May 2022, the wheels came off. The tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde sent Texas gun-grabbers into a frenzy, promoting the gun control snake oil like the fast-talking hustlers from the old-time medicine shows. With all the tears and lurid details about the victims, it should have been a sure thing.
The “blame-it-on-the-guns” strategy failed when much of the furor and outrage instead targeted the army of law enforcement officers that was not deployed while the killer was still active.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Texas Senator John Cornyn led a group of Republicans into an alliance with Democrats led by Connecticut Senator and gun-control zealot Chris Murphy to produce legislation to make it look like Congress was doing something
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 (BSCA) was the result. Joe Biden praised the bill and began perverting it as soon as his signature was dry.
Tony Gonzales was the only Texas Republican to vote in favor of the BSCA. He also voted against the Border Safety and Security Act.
In 2023, Texas Republicans censured Gonzales for his votes. He was only the second person to be censured by the party.
In August 2023, another wild card was added to the deck when Brandon Herrera tossed his hat in the ring. There was a whole lot of pearl-clutching as the outspoken and irreverent Herrera campaigned.
Brandon Herrera is a well-known GunTuber. Beginning in 2014, he has grown his channel to 4.18 million subscribers and gotten over 850 million views. A year later, he formed The AK Guy, a 07/02 FFL/SOT manufacturer focused on Kalashnikov rifles.
There were four candidates for the Republican nomination for District 23. Nobody got 50% of the total vote, so Texas state law calls for a runoff between the two candidates who received the largest number of votes.
The runoff was held on May 28, 2024. Gonzales won narrowly, by 354 votes.
Herrera’s political viewpoint is somewhere to the right of Gonzales’. He makes no pretense of being moderate or politically correct. From what I have seen, he enjoys talking and interacting with people.
One thing is for sure: Brandon Herrera will be a better friend to gun rights and the Second Amendment.
Texas District 23 truly is a battleground. Not between a Republican and a Democrat: between two Republicans.
To make an interesting election even more compelling, Tony Gonzales is now embroiled in a scandal concerning an alleged affair with a staff member who later took her own life. It will come as no surprise that Herrera has urged him to resign.
This race clearly needs popcorn.
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About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.
Brandon will likely be good for that seat. I hope the job does not corrupt him. He seems decent. Been following his channel for years. He seems consistent. My district rep here in VA is Morgan Griffith. I would wish for a Brandon Herrera. Morgan is better than I could hope for but he also votes the party almost 100% of the time. The days of counting on the GOP blindly are over. I’d like to have a rep more aligned with the Constitution and specifically the 2A over the slightly right of center that Griffith appears to be. With… Read more »
Hoping Brandon wins nomination. Not only because I consider him to be among the best of the best – but also because if Tony is the republican candidate, democrats will exploit this tragedy and keep him out of office.
We know Tony won’t be reelected – so it’s either the best in form of Brandon or a gun grabbing democrat. Obvious which I prefer. 🙂
Also a new poll by UT’s Texas Politics Project shows Attorney General Ken Paxton leads incumbent John Cornyn 36% to 34% for the Republican nomination.
Book title: “When Bad Things Happen to Moderately Bad Representatives — and to Their Consorts”
RINO Gonzo a waste of space…
Personally, I find it surprising (and disheartening) that the great Republic of Texas has 13 Democrat representatives (34% of the delegation). I didn’t think they were that far gone yet. On the other hand (as I sadly chuckle to myself), can you say “Jasmine Crockett”? Go Branden Herrera!
Brandon should be awarded that seat. He’s a far better man for Texas than Gonzales will ever be.
Good luck Texas. Gonzalez should be gone and of course no Democrat can be trusted in any position of responsibility. Democrats cannot even be trusted to clean up a dog park
When the district lines were redrawn a while back I missed getting into D23 by literally a few blocks so I’m still stuck with the Castro twin 🙁 That means I have no dog in this fight but I’m still bombarded with pro Herrera ads due to that proximity. The worst one is him opining that he should be an ‘honorary’ veteran – for ‘reasons’. He also claims to be a 5th generation Texan even though he moved back here from North Carolina (who orchestrated that?) to run against Gonzo a few years back. IMHO all he touts is being… Read more »