WASHINGTON — It’s the marquee race in the upcoming Texas runoff elections.
In one corner, there’s a formidable lawmaker from San Antonio, Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a 43-year old Navy veteran with an unfiltered style who recently called the far-right members of his own party “a bunch of scumbags” for derailing a border security package.
In the other corner, there’s political newcomer Brandon Herrera, a 28-year old gun-toting YouTube influencer, “the AK guy” — a recent North Carolina transplant with 3.3 million followers whose tough-guy brand has found appeal among some U.S. House conservatives.
“Tony’s in the fight for his political life,” Brendan Steinhauser, an Austin Republican strategist, said of Gonzales, who is seeking a third term in the U.S. House. “Just being in the runoff is dangerous.”
There were five competitors in the GOP primary in March for U.S. House District 23. Gonzales, who had an advantage as the incumbent, was forced into a runoff after failing to clear a majority. He received 45.1% of the vote, and Herrera finished second with 24.6%.
Ahead of the May 28 runoff election, Gonzales is pushing back hard against critics who say he isn’t conservative enough. He drew recent back-to-back high-profile endorsements from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who appeared at a San Antonio fundraiser April 23, raising $300,000 for the incumbent, and Gov. Greg Abbott, who rarely gets involved in federal races but praised Gonzales in a statement on the same day for being a “fierce champion” of tough border security.
More: Texas Democrats open to saving US House Speaker Mike Johnson from motion to vacate
Johnson’s endorsement was particularly too much for U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Hays County, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, who told San Antonio radio station KTSA, “To have the speaker be in San Antonio campaigning for Tony … I’m just beside myself that that’s where things are.”
It turns out the race is as much about the House GOP infighting as it is about local issues.
Roy had led a faction that opposed Johnson’s $95 billion international foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, which cleared the House on April 20 with a majority of Democratic support. A previous bipartisan border security measure failed as House and Senate Republicans decided not to proceed with the bill after former President Donald Trump opposed it to keep President Joe Biden from claiming a big legislative victory during an election year.
Gonzales, who supported Johnson, went on the attack, using salty language in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on April 21.
“I serve with some real scumbags. Look, Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties,” Gonzales said, bringing up allegations against the Republican U.S. House member from Florida, which federal prosecutors chose not to pursue. Gaetz appeared at a campaign rally for Herrera in March in San Antonio.
Gonzales also aimed some shots at Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, who endorsed Herrera in early April.
“Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi,” Gonzales said. “These people used to walk around with white hoods at night; now they are walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”
In response, Herrera posted on the social media platform X: “This is the death spiral ladies and gentlemen. (Gonzales) has to cry to his liberal friends about me, because Republicans won’t listen anymore.”
In a follow-up post on X a week later, Herrera said, “This should be obvious, but I am not, nor have I never been a neo-Nazi. It’s honestly laughable, considering my entire political philosophy is the OPPOSITE of fascism. I want to reduce government in every way possible, the total opposite of Hitler’s National Socialism.”
Herrera’s campaign did not respond to American-Statesman requests for comment.
‘Just a YouTuber’
Touting his newfound political chops, Herrera posted on X on April 25: “It’s funny that 3 months ago I was ‘just a YouTuber’ and ‘not a serious candidate.’ This week I forced the Speaker of the House to fly to TX to campaign for my opponent, desperate to keep his job. When your enemies are circling the wagons, it’s usually not a sign they’re winning.”
For Gonzales, it’s a path to redemption after having endured slingshots from the right, including being censured by the Texas Republican Party for his support for gun safety measures after the Uvalde elementary school massacre in his district, same sex marriage and immigration reform.
And Abbott’s support packs a wallop.
“Abbott’s riding high,” said Bill Miller, an Austin consultant who works with Republicans and Democrats. “His endorsement means something. He’s riding high, and he’s riding hot.”
For Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University, the outlook depends on turnout. “It’s a mobilization battle,” Jones said. Runoff elections typically attract only the most ardent supporters.
The race is already the most expensive congressional election in Texas, with Gonzales having raised $3.2 million and having $1.5 million on hand, according to federal data on opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan website. Herrera has raised $1.2 million and has $302,000 in cash on hand.
On Tuesday, Gonzales doubled down on his attacks against Herrera and announced a $786,000 media ad buy. Gonzales released a TV ad highlighting his support as a Navy veteran from fellow military veterans and Herrera’s alleged insensitivity to veterans’ issues.
“Veteran suicide is real. If you listen to Brandon Herrera, he thinks that’s a joke,” a veteran says in the ad, followed by an excerpt from a February podcast — “Unsubscribe,” which Herrera co-hosts — 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.”
Just before that quote, Herrera said in the podcast that he didn’t serve in the military but grew up around it and “didn’t really realize that military humor wasn’t normal.”
“Every veteran I’ve ever told that joke to laughed their ass off and said, ‘You can’t (expletive) say that,’ ” Herrera said in the podcast.
At a news conference announcing his TV ad buy, Gonzales said, “I spent 20 years in the Navy. For veterans, some of the most painful wounds we bring home from war are the ones no one can see. Tragically, we lose an average of 17 veterans every single day to suicide. … Brandon Herrera is not a veteran.”
In response, Herrera said on X, “It’s honestly disgraceful to see you take one line purposefully out of context, and use it to diminish all of the work me and my friends have done for the veteran community here.”
‘Always play as if it’s close’
Henry Bonilla, a Republican who represented the district until being defeated in a general election runoff in 2006, is a strong supporter of Gonzales and attended the campaign fundraising event with the speaker.
“He’s got a race,” said Bonilla, a principal with the Normandy Group, a lobbying firm. “It’s like a championship football game. You always play as if it’s close.”
The May 28 runoff will be held immediately after Memorial Day, and Gonzales and Herrera will face off for the expansive district that stretches from San Antonio along the Texas-Mexico border for 800 miles to the outskirts of El Paso. In the GOP-majority district, the runoff winner will be the favorite to win the general election in November against Democrat S. Limon.
“This is going to be all about ‘turn out the vote,’ ” said University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor Jon Taylor.
Statesman political editor Andy Sevilla contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: US Rep. Tony Gonzales in high-stakes Texas runoff against YouTuber