2024 TEXAS ELECTIONS
Gun rights YouTuber Brandon Herrera gains momentum in race against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales
Gonzales is taking heat from the right for his vote in support of the bipartisan gun safety bill passed after the Uvalde school shooting.
BY MATTHEW CHOI AND RENZO DOWNEY
MARCH 25, 20242 HOURS AGO
Brandon Herrera, Republican candidate for the U.S. House for Texas’ 23rd congressional district, speaks during a campaign event at the Angry Elephant, a politically themed bar, on March 14, 2024 in San Antonio. Credit: Christopher Lee for The Texas Tribune
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Editor's note: This story contains explicit language.
WASHINGTON — 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.
It’s that particular vote that motivated Herrera’s unexpected launch into politics.
“If you vote against our interests, if you vote against gun rights, if you vote against the Constitution, “ Herrera told a crowd of gun rights advocates last week in Denver, “we will challenge you, we will primary you and we will win. We will take your fucking job.”
Known for his politically incorrect online persona as “The AK Guy,” he is guns first, and politics second. His entire brand and fanbase surrounds promoting and sensationalizing guns on his YouTube channel where he explains gun history, trolls gun safety advocates, rates his favorite “gun fails” and shoots a variety of firearms.
His crassness and irreverence has offended many on the left and the right. He has no formal political experience and the most high-profile endorsement he has garnered so far is from Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was
reportedly scolded by GOP House leadership for campaigning against an incumbent.
Despite those hurdles, Herrera has managed to tap into right-wing ire against Gonzales — who is uniquely vulnerable this election cycle for his moderation on guns, as well as a handful of other policy positions Gonzales’ took over the past two years that put him at odds with the state party.
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.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, gives an interview in his office at Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 2023. Gonzales is a member of the House Appropriations Committees. Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune
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.
The edgelord
Running for Congress was a surprise move to many of Herrera’s followers. He made the announcement at a Young Americans for Liberty event in Florida last August. Though a San Antonio resident now, he had spent much of his life in North Carolina.
His followers largely know him for his YouTube channel, which
he said he first started in 2015 as “just some idiot kid making videos with guns.” Often clad in a T-shirt with brushed-back long hair, Herrera delivers monologues like a native of the internet: peppering his speeches with pithy one-liners and laughing when he knows he’s pushing the envelope. He normally speaks from a gaming chair in front of a
wall decorated with various firearms.