Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) again called his primary opponent a “neo-Nazi” on Sunday as he prepares for Tuesday’s runoff election, a closely fought race that has divided the Republican Party.
The two-term border district lawmaker fired back at party members who supported his primary rival, social media heavyweight Brandon Herrera, after neither candidate received a majority of the vote in a March runoff election that led to Tuesday’s primary.
“Are we going to be the party that governs in a conservative way and gets things done?” Gonzalez said. He spoke to CNN on Sunday.“Or are we going to be a party of clowns who are going to come in here and say wild, ridiculous things and burn this place down?”
Herrera is Successful YouTube Channel He focuses on firearms-related content. The history of jokes The channel was subject to “neo-Nazi” attacks because it broadcast about the Nazis and the Holocaust.
The right wing of the Republican Party has rallied around Herrera, who has the backing of Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Bob Good (R-Va.), and Gonzalez himself has the support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
The intraparty battle has centered on gun rights, with Herrera consistently criticizing Gonzales for his support of bipartisan gun control legislation proposed after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 people dead. Uvalde is in Gonzales’ district.
The Texas Republican Party denounced Gonzalez’s vote, and he defended his decision to support the bill.
“Something has to change,” Gonzalez said, referring to the widespread use of bulletproof vests for students and other concerns about school shootings. “This is not fair.”
“Across the board, people are angry. And they have a reason to be angry,” he said of voters. “But once they’re angry, are they going to quell that anger by burning things? Or are they going to quell that anger by getting results? That’s the question, not just in this election, but in other elections across the country.”
In response to Gaetz and Goode endorsing their opponents, Gonzalez said he would do the same for them.
“I’m going to be spending a lot of time in Pensacola,” he said, referring to Gaetz’s district. “I’m going to be spending a lot of time in Virginia and a few other places. So I think my campaign is just getting started. You could give me your all and still not beat me. You can’t. You can’t.”
The primary is one of the most expensive in the country, with both campaigns and outside groups spending more than $9 million so far, according to data collected by the Federal Election Commission. Open Secret.
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