Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales knew he was putting his career on the line in June 2022 when he voted for the first major gun safety legislation in decades. But the vote was personal for the Republican congressman, whose district includes the town of Uvalde, where a horrific mass shooting had taken place a month earlier, killing 19 schoolchildren and two teachers. On Tuesday evening, Gonzales will learn whether that vote will cost him his seat.
The stakes could not be more clear. Brandon Herrera, whom Gonzales is running against, is not only a gun-rights supporter but also a firearm manufacturer and YouTube personality with the moniker "The AK Guy" — as in Kalashnikov. Herrera's company sells a T-shirt that says "Imagine there's no John Lennon," presumably a reference to the Beatles singer being shot and killed by a deranged fan. He once jokingly referred to a Nazi submachine gun as "the original ghetto blaster."
After being censured by the state Republican Party for his vote for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Gonzales failed to get 50% of the vote in the Republican primary in March and now faces Herrera in a low-turnout runoff election. The winner will face Democrat Santos Limon in November in a district rated R+5 by the Cook Political Report.
This race is notable at a national level because two House members have gone against the leadership by endorsing Herrera: the ultra-right-wing Rep. Matt Gaetz and the head of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Bob Good. If Herrera wins, Gaetz and Good will see their stock rise among the Republican conference.
Herrera has focused most of his arguments in the primary on that one vote, banking that it will drive die-hard gun-rights supporters to the polls in a low-turnout race, but Gonzales has not wavered on his decision. Here's hoping his constituents don't waver on him, either.
