I like Brandon Herrera. I love watching his videos and I love his sense of humor. He's a smidge warped in what he finds funny, he's just warped in a similar way to me.

I loved him announcing a run for Congress, particularly against Rep. Tony Gonzales. Despite sharing a name with one of the greatest tight ends to ever play in the NFL, Gonzales has been a disappointment at best.

Sure, he's a Republican, but he's an anti-gun Republican, which makes him no different from a Democrat in our minds, and Herrera is as pro-gun as they come. Swapping out Gonzales with Herrera is a public service as far as I'm concerned.

While Gonzales managed to garner the most votes in the Texas primary, it wasn't enough to push Herrera out. The two are now in a run-off, and that's probably bad news for Gonzales.

Stepping out of a recent hearing in the Colorado Legislature to testify against a ban on semi-automatic firearms, pro-gun activist Brandon Herrera griped into a camera about how much he hates these kinds of things.

“I don’t know why I signed up to talk to politicians,” Herrera said, speaking to his 3.3 million gun-loving YouTube subscribers. “I forgot how much I fucking hate doing that.”

He may soon have to.

Herrera, a 28-year-old influencer who made a name for himself online by selling reassembled military-grade weapons and defending gun owners’ rights, is building momentum in his bid to oust U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales — the lone Texas Republican in the House to vote for gun safety legislation that passed in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting. 

...

Ahead of the March 5 primary, Gonzales, a San Antonian, appeared well armed to sail into a third term in the 23rd congressional district. His campaign had raised over $2.8 million before the primary — more than three times Herrera’s haul — and had some of the deepest pockets in politics steadfastly backing him. The district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and includes more of the border than any other Texas district.

But Gonzales had made enemies in his party’s right flank — a conflict that showed its heft when he failed to secure an outright victory with only 45% of the vote. In 2022, Gonzales won the primary with 78%. It’s Gonzales’ first major challenge since getting elected to Congress and his first race since the Texas Republican Party censured him last year for policy positions the party deemed insufficiently conservative — including his vote on the gun safety bill. Now Gonzales will face off against Herrera in the primary runoff on May 28.

To many of Gonzales’ primary challengers, getting rid of Gonzales was as much the goal as serving in Congress, and they are now all rallying behind Herrera.

“Guess what???? I’m still in this race to make sure you LOSE!!” third-place candidate Julie Clark, who garnered 14% of the primary vote, said on social media to Gonzales.

Gonzales’ campaign did not make him available for an interview for this story.

Honestly, this is what happens when you go down the anti-gun rabbit hole. Yes, Gonzales got the most votes in the primary, but when everyone else was voting specifically against him, it's not a great recipe for success in retaining his seat.

And that's how it should be.

Herrera was motivated to run because of Gonzales and his support for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, yet Gonzales angered a lot of Texas Republicans with his anti-gun rhetoric. He'd have supported much, much worse legislation and we all know it.

Herrera knows it, too.

Unfortunately, based on how the Republican Party has backed Gonzales, they either don't realize it or simply don't care.

Regardless, Herrera is a threat, especially when so many of his other fellow challengers were quick to throw their weight behind the guntuber.

The big question is whether it's enough to remove an anti-gunner from the House and put in someone who really believes in the Second Amendment.