Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) narrowly avoided defeat Tuesday after fending off a YouTube influencer in the Texas Republican primary runoff election.
“The future of America remains as bright as ever,” Gonzales wrote on X after his projected victory in the Texas 23rd Congressional District primary race. “Thank you #TX23 for continuing to place your faith in me.”
Gonzales was projected to beat Brandon Herrera – a digital content creator known as “The AK Guy” – by less than 500 votes.
The 48-year-old incumbent received 50.7% of the vote to Herrara’s 49.3% in the sprawling, 800-mile-long district along the Texas-Mexico border.
“We did an amazing thing,” Herrera wrote on X. “We looked down the biggest guns of the DC establishment to the tune of probably over $10 million, and told them they didn’t own us.”
“We made them fight for their lives,” he added.
Former President Donald Trump did not endorse either candidate.
Herrera, who argued the former president couldn’t 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 Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), as well as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
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 “real scumbags.”
Gonzales easily topped Herrera in the March 5 Texas GOP primary, but failed to reach the 50% threshold needed to avoid Tuesday’s runoff.
He will face Democrat Santos Limon in the Nov. 5 general election for the House seat in the traditionally moderate district.
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’s impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton on bribery and corruption charges, beat Covey by a 52.3% to 47.3% margin.
Paxton was later acquitted in the state Senate, and on Tuesday he warned Republicans considering backing Phelan for the state speakership next year.
“My 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,” Paxton wrote on X, referencing Phelan-aligned Republicans defeated in the March 5 primary and subsequent runoff contests.
“You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again,” Paxton added.
In Texas’ 28th Congressional District, Republican voters picked retired Navy veteran Jay Furman to go up against embattled Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in November.
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.
