The Texas Republican who represents Uvalde, and voted for the new gun restrictions in response to the 2022 mass shooting there barely survived a primary challenge motivated by that vote on Tuesday.
Incumbent Tony Gonzales beat challenger and popular gun YouTuber Brandon Herrera by single digits after being forced into a runoff. Fewer than a thousand votes separated the two Republicans when Decision Desk called the race for Gonzales shortly before 11 pm Eastern. Gonzales will now face Democrat Santos Limon to decide who represents Texas’s 23rd district, an 800-mile area that runs along the border with Mexico.
“The future of America remains as bright as ever,” Gonzales posted after Decision Desk called the race for him. “Thank you #TX23 for continuing to place your faith in me.”
The results give the more moderate wing of the GOP a victory, but the close nature of the race underscores the continuing influence of gun-rights activists–at least inside the Republican party. Herrera, known as The AK Guy on YouTube, launched his campaign in response to Gonzales’s vote for the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expanded who was barred from owning a gun over domestic violence convictions and created a defacto waiting period on gun purchases by 18-to-20-year-olds.
The YouTuber centered much of his campaign around guns. He described himself as a “Second Amendment activist, and social media personality” and promised to advocate for “national concealed carry legislation” and block “any new firearms restrictions” on his campaign website. The site also prominently featured hs connection to groups like the National Association for Gun Rights, the Firearm Policy Coalition, and Gun Owners of America.
Herrera’s performance as an upstart candidate underscores how prominent gun politics can be even in a swing district.
While Herrera’s campaign was initiated over Gonzales’s gun vote, the race became a proxy fight inside the GOP. Gonzales garnered support from House Speaker Mike Johnson. Herrera had MAGA firebrands, like Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, come campaign for him.
Herrera did not post a message on the race’s outcome by press time. However, he did thank his supporters and attack his opponents in messages posted on his Twitter account.
“If that’s true, you and your left leaning losers just spent $10 million to come within a couple hundred votes of a YouTuber,” he told former Republican congressman Andrew Kinzinger after the latter said he lost.
