Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) narrowly avoided defeat Tuesday after fending off YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera in the Texas Republican primary runoff election.<\/b>
\nRep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) narrowly avoided defeat Tuesday after fending off a YouTube influencer in the Texas Republican primary runoff election.\u00a0
\u201cThe future of America remains as bright as ever,\u201d Gonzales wrote on X after his projected victory in the Texas 23rd Congressional District primary race. \u201cThank you #TX23 for continuing to place your faith in me.\u201d
Gonzales was projected to beat Brandon Herrera \u2013 a digital content creator known as \u201cThe AK Guy\u201d \u2013 by less than 500 votes.\u00a0
The 48-year-old incumbent received 50.7% of the vote to Herrara\u2019s 49.3% in the sprawling, 800-mile-long district along the Texas-Mexico border.\u00a0
\u201cWe did an amazing thing,\u201d Herrera wrote on X. \u201cWe looked down the biggest guns of the DC establishment to the tune of probably over $10 million, and told them they didn\u2019t own us.\u201d
\u201cWe made them fight for their lives,\u201d he added.\u00a0
Former President Donald Trump did not endorse either candidate.\u00a0
Herrera, who argued the former president couldn\u2019t win in the general election and mocked former first son Barron Trump during a Feb. 10 podcast, received endorsements from House Freedom Caucus members Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.) and\u00a0Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), as well as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).\u00a0
Gonzales was backed by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who attended a fundraiser for the incumbent days after Gonzales trashed GOP hardliners in Congress as \u201creal scumbags.\u201d\u00a0
Gonzales easily topped Herrera in the March 5 Texas GOP primary, but failed to reach the 50% threshold needed to avoid Tuesday\u2019s runoff.\u00a0
He will face Democrat Santos Limon in the Nov. 5 general election for the House seat in the traditionally moderate district.\u00a0
Elsewhere in the Lone Star State, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan narrowly won his GOP primary runoff against Trump-backed challenger David Covey.
Phelan, who received criticism from the right over last year\u2019s impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton on bribery and corruption charges, beat Covey by a 52.3% to 47.3% margin.\u00a0
Paxton was later acquitted in the state Senate, and on Tuesday he warned Republicans considering backing Phelan for the state speakership next year.\u00a0
\u201cMy message to Austin is clear: to those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now,\u201d Paxton wrote on X,\u00a0 referencing Phelan-aligned Republicans defeated in the March 5 primary and subsequent runoff contests.
\u201cYou will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again,\u201d Paxton added.\u00a0
In Texas\u2019 28th Congressional District, Republican voters picked retired Navy veteran Jay Furman to go up against embattled Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in November.\u00a0
Cuellar, who has represented the 28th District in Congress since 2005, was indicted along with his wife earlier this month over claims that he took $600,000 in bribes between 2014 and 2021 from an Azerbaijani oil and gas company and a Mexican bank.
The 68-year-old congressman, who ran unopposed in his primary race, has said he is innocent.<\/p>\n