The New York Times has it in for 2A influencer and congressional candidate Brandon Herrera. Over the past few days opinion writer Michelle Goldberg devoted an entire column to Herrera's campaign, and over the weekend the news side of the paper ran a lengthy piece, with both the opinion and straight news coverage focusing on some of the comments that Herrera has made during his time as one of the most popular GunTubers around.
Herrera's Republican opponent in both 2024 and 2026 did most of the legwork for the hit pieces from the Times. Former Rep. Tony Gonzales, who stepped down in disgrace earlier after his affair with a married staffer who ultimately took her own life was revealed, tried to paint Herrera as a Nazi-lover and "extremist" thanks to some of Herrera's edgier YouTube content. Herrera was narrowly defeated in the 2024 GOP primary for TX-23, but won handily over Gonzales earlier this year.
Goldberg, in her piece, unearthed some other comments from Herrera that were directed at Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts which may serve to fire up Democrats in TX-23 but probably won't do much to sway independent voters or Republicans in the district.
“I know the difference between the way that you speak in a comedy performance, so to speak, and the way that you speak in a political environment,” he said, adding: “I’ve always toed that line perfectly fine. What they’re going to do is they’re going to pretend jokes are policy, and they’re going to purposely pretend that they don’t know the difference.”
Herrera told the Times that the only people who have ever cared about his online content "are either in the media or in D.C.,” and added that as long as he can convince voters that he's right on the issues, he shouldn't have any problem winning their vote in November.
It sounds like many D.C. Democrats agree. In what is probably the most surprising part of both pieces, Herrera's opponent revealed that the national party isn't doing much of anything to help her campaign. Goldberg writes that "Democrats recently moved Herrera’s district, which voted for Trump by 15 points, onto their target list," but Katy Padilla Stout says that hasn't translated to any actual assistance.
“I’m, like, in the most toxic relationship of my life” with the D.C.C.C., Ms. Padilla Stout, 41, said at the July campaign event. “I find myself thinking, ‘I don’t want your time and attention. I want your money!’”
The national party may have bigger fish to fry. Republican-led redistricting in Texas put Democrats on the defensive in three districts held by the party.
A Politico story from over the weekend discussed three other south Texas congressional districts that Democrats believe they can either flip or hold, but TX-23 wasn't mentioned at all, so it looks like Democrats think Stout's campaign is a long shot at the moment.
Why is that surprising? After all, as the Times notes, President Trump won TX-23 by 15 points in 2024, and that should make the district safe for any Republican candidate, no matter how many edgy jokes their opponent might be able to dredge up. In the primaries earlier this year, though, more TX-23 voters cast ballots in the Democrat primary than the Republican primary, which was a sign that the district may actually be competitive this year.
My guess is that the DCCC's internal polling and Stout's lack of success in fundraising has led Democrat strategists to conclude that it's a long shot to flip TX-23. FEC filings show that, through the end of June, Stout has raised a little less than $500,000 for her campaign, while Herrera has raised about $2.25 million in that same time period.
The recent New York Times coverage seems almost designed to give Stout a financial shot in the arm, but whether the Democrats' big donors will respond accordingly is very much an open question. Even gun control groups like Giffords, which has publicly backed Stout, haven't spent much money in TX-23. That could change in the final months of the campaign season, but for now it looks like both Republicans and Democrats are pretty confident that Herrera is going to win in November.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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