TX-23: Texas Republican congressman gets a primary foe days after party censures him

[RandySF]

Medina County GOP chair Julie Clark on Monday kicked off a primary bid against Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, an announcement that came days after the state Republican Party censured the incumbent for defying the party line on multiple occasions. Clark brought up Gonzales’ apostasies in a launch video where her narrator accuses the congressman of “trying to take away our guns,” a reference to the gun safety legislation he supported last year after the Robb Elementary School shooting happened in his 23rd Congressional District.

The video, after claiming Gonzales “voted for taxpayer-funded abortions and even voted against securing our border with a wall,” attacks him for confirming Joe Biden’s victory in the hours after the Jan. 6 attack, though this is framed as him having “voted to put Joe Biden into office, and for the sham Jan. 6 committee.” After showing footage of Clark aiming her gun, the narrator ominously says, “It’s time we take out the RINO, and replace them with real American patriots.”

Gonzales himself remained defiant after the party censured him, a move that bars him from receiving party help until any runoffs take place in late May of next year. Indeed, he responded in Spanish with what the Houston Chronicle calls “some words for the group that are probably too coarse for a family newspaper.”

Gonzales’ vast constituency, which stretches from the San Antonio suburbs west to the El Paso area, used to be competitive turf, and the Republican unexpectedly won the last version of the district in 2020 as it was flipping from 50-46 Clinton to a narrow 50-48 victory for Trump. The GOP legislature did what it could to make sure it remained reliably red by stretching Trump’s 2020 margin to 53-46, and Gonzales went on to take his second term 56-39 in a campaign that attracted little outside attention.




https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/6/2156604/-Texas-Republican-congressman-gets-a-primary-foe-days-after-party-censures-him

[hildegaard28]

1. I would say he should switch

to the Democratic party, but he's probably better off becoming an independent in Texas. He already won twice there, so he could probably win again even with a party switch.