Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) narrowly avoided defeat in the Texas Republican primary runoff election on Tuesday, beating a YouTube influencer.
“The future of America remains as bright as ever,” Gonzalez wrote to X after his expected victory in the Texas 23rd Congressional District primary. “Thank you for your continued confidence in me. #TX23.”
Gonzalez was expected to defeat Brandon Herrera, a digital content creator known as “The AK Guy,” by less than 500 votes.
The 48-year-old incumbent won 50.7% of the vote in the sprawling district that stretches 800 miles along the Texas-Mexico border, compared with Herrara’s 49.3%.
“We did something amazing,” Herrera wrote to X. “We downplayed the most powerful people in the DC establishment by probably over $10 million and told them we didn’t belong.”
“We made them fight for their lives,” he added.
Former President Donald Trump did not endorse either candidate.
Herrera argued that the former president could not win the general election. Mocking former First Son Barron Trump During a Feb. 10 podcast, he received endorsements from House Freedom Caucus members Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), Rep. Eli Klain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
Gonzales had the backing of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who attended a fundraiser for the incumbent lawmakers just days after Gonzales called hardline Republicans in Congress “real scum.”
Gonzalez handily beat Herrera in the March 5 Texas Republican primary but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff election on Tuesday.
He will face off against Democratic candidate Santos Limon in the Nov. 5 general election for a House seat in a traditionally moderate district.
Elsewhere in the Lone Star State, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan narrowly defeated Trump-backed challenger David Covey in a Republican primary runoff election.
Phelan, who faced criticism from the right last year over Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment on bribery and corruption charges, defeated Covey by a margin of 52.3% to 47.3%.
Paxton was later acquitted by the state Senate and on Tuesday issued a warning to Republicans considering supporting Phelan in next year’s election for state speaker.
“My message to Austin is clear: For those of you considering supporting Dade Phelan for speaker in 2025, please ask your 15 colleagues who lost their reelection bid how they feel about that decision now,” Paxton wrote to X, referring to Republicans who supported Phelan, who lost in the March 5 primary and subsequent runoff elections.
“If we vote for Dade Phelan again, we won’t be coming back,” Paxton added.
In Texas’ 28th Congressional District, Republican voters selected retired Navy veteran Jay Furman to take on embattled Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in November.
Cuellar, who has represented the 28th Congressional District since 2005, was indicted earlier this month along with his wife on charges of accepting $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil and gas company and a Mexican bank between 2014 and 2021.
The 68-year-old congressman, who was unopposed in the primary, maintains he is innocent.
