Second Amendment advocate and GunTuber Brandon Herrera has received the endorsement of President Donald Trump in his bid to represent the 23rd Congressional District of Texas, just a week after incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales dropped his own campaign to remain in office after admitting to an affair with a staffer who later took her own life.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump just endorsed BRANDON HERRERA to replace scandal-ridden GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales in TX-23
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 11, 2026
HUGE! Congrats, @TheAKGuy!
TRUMP: "Today I am endorsing America First Patriot, Brandon Herrera, who is running to represent the wonderful people of Texas’ 23rd… pic.twitter.com/YzvSN4Aypy
Today I am endorsing America First Patriot, Brandon Herrera, who is running to represent the wonderful people of Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. Brandon is strongly supported by many Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in Texas, and Republicans in the U.S. House. As your next Congressman, he will work tirelessly to advance our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Agenda. Brandon will fight hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Advance MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Safeguard our Elections, Champion School Choice, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Brave Military, Veterans, and Law Enforcement, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment. Brandon Herrera has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Texas’ 23rd Congressional District — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Thank you President Trump 🇺🇸
— Brandon Herrera (@TheAKGuy) March 11, 2026
It’s now time to take the fight to the Democrats in November and continue working to deliver great wins for TX23 and the rest of the nation. https://t.co/LE2xqzs2MY
I'm glad that the president found room to mention the right to keep and bear arms in his statement. I was getting a little worried as I was reading through it for the first time.
While Herrera has made a name for himself in 2A circles and can definitely count gun owners as among some of his biggest supporters, he's not running for a seat on the NRA board of directors or any other Second Amendment organization. I certainly hope that 2A issues will be Herrera's top priority if he's elected, but he's going to have to take stands on every issue of importance between now and November.
That includes immigration and the president's crackdown, and as I said after Gonzales dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, success for Hererra is far from guaranteed in the general election. Yes, TX-23 is rated an R+7 "safe" seat by Cook Political Report, but there are signs that the district is going to be highly competitive this year, thanks in large part to the immigration and deportation issues.
Democrats gained about 30,000 new voters in this year's primary compared to two years ago, more than doubling their turnout. And while President Trump and Republicans made historic inroads in the Rio Grande Valley in 2024, this year many Hispanic voters chose to sit out the Republican primary. As CBS News reports:
Relative to their average across 2020, 2022, and 2024, majority-Latino counties saw growth of approximately 37% in their primary votes this year. Other counties in Texas saw closer to a 33% increase in aggregate. Heavily Latino counties like Starr and Hidalgo, which sit along the U.S.-Mexico border, saw some of the biggest jumps — 67% and 51%, respectively.
One reason is that new primary voters were disproportionately Latino. Among Latino early voters, for example, a full third hadn't turned out in a recent primary. And Latino turnout skewed heavily Democratic this year. Both precinct data and individual-level data from the voter file suggest that about three in four Latino voters chose to vote in the Democratic primary over the Republican one — new primary voters even more so.
House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP is in "a course correction mode" after suffering "a little hiccup with some of the Hispanic and Latino voters" who view the president's immigration enforcement efforts as "overzealous," and according to CBS, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair has encouraged House Republicans not to emphasize "mass deportations" on the campaign trail, suggesting that they "focus on the administration's efforts to target and remove violent criminals who are in the U.S. illegally."
With Second Amendment activists like David Codrea and Four Boxes Diner's Mark Smith pushing 2A groups (and presumably pro-2A Republican candidates as well) to demand curbs on both illegal and legal immigration, this could quickly become a thorny issue for Herrera. TX-23 is about 63% Hispanic, and embracing Codrea and Smith's point of view would be political suicide for the candidate. Obviously Herrera isn't going to come out in favor of open borders, but I do wonder if anything short of calling for a ban on legal and illegal immigration will alienate some Second Amendment supporters in the district, as well as some potential donors outside of TX-23.
The good news is that Herrera has already built a war chest that's far larger than the $8,000 Democrat Katy Padilla Stout reported in her last campaign filing, but I completely disagree with Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesperson Zach Kraft, who recently said that "anyone saying this race is remotely competitive is an unserious clown.”
I didn't put on grease paint and a red nose before I went to work today, but if the primary turnout is any indication this will indeed be a competitive district. TX-23 is the home of Uvalde, and Stout is sure to make Herrera's 2A views a campaign issue. Herrera's time in front of the camera will be fodder as well, Democrats are already trying to portray Herrera as a neo-Nazi by taking some clips of his past videos out of context.
Add in the potentially explosive immigration issue and I don't think this is going to be a cakewalk, even with the president's endorsement. Second Amendment supporters who want to see Herrera in the House next year can't just cheer him on from the sidelines. They need to get engaged and involved in his campaign or start working with groups who are supportive of his run... and to act like Herrera is 10 points down instead of assuming he's a shoo-in for a safe seat.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media and anti-gun politicians are going to continue to lie about Second Amendment supporters like Herrera.
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