The three-term Republican congressman finds himself in a precarious political position during primary season.
SAN ANTONIO — If U.S. House Rep. Tony Gonzales wants to retain his Congressional District 23 seat, he’ll first have to fend off Republican challenger Brandon Herrera.
The two are headed to a runoff, with Gonzales falling just short of the 50% threshold to win the GOP nomination outright. As of 12:45 a.m., the incumbent had 43.03% of the vote to Herrera’s 42.24%, putting them far ahead of the other Republican candidates whose participation prevented either from winning outright.
The two GOP opponents are familiar with each other: Herrera lost to Gonzales by just 354 votes out of nearly 30,000 ballots in their 2024 primary runoff battle.
Late Tuesday night, Gonzales posted a short message to X that ended with: “Onward to a victorious May.”
Katy Padilla Stout, who works in child welfare and education law, was poised to beat three others to win the Democratic nomination with 54% of the vote.
For Gonzales, the race has been clouded by controversy centered on allegations of an affair and salacious messages he sent to an aide before she took her own life. The developments have placed him in a precarious political position during the primary season, potentially setting the stage for someone else to nab the Congressional District 23 seat.
Gonzales has refused calls to resign, some of them coming from his own party, in the wake of reports that he texted lewd messages to former staffer Regina Santos-Aviles more than a year before authorities say she died of suicide at her Uvalde home.
“Send me a sexy pic,” read one of those messages provided to KENS 5 by Santos-Aviles’ estranged husband. Later texts show Gonzales asking her about her favorite sexual positions before she replies, “This is too far, Tony.”
Her ex-husband, meanwhile, has claimed the two had an affair.
Brandon Herrera, Gonzales’ most well-known challenger in the Republican primary, has seized the opportunity after coming within 400 votes of beating the congressman in the 2024 runoff.
“Similar behavior in our military would lead to court-martial and dismissal from service, and we should not hold the political leaders who oversee our armed services to a lower standard than the one to which our fighting men and women are held,” said Herrera, a gun rights activist.
Francisco “Quico” Canseco and Keith Barton round out the Republican candidates for the 23rd Congressional District race.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Gonzales in his primary battle. Should he fail to win the nomination outright, the top two vote-getters will advance to a May 26 runoff.
The four Democrats running on their party’s primary: Katy Padilla Stout, Santos Limon, Bruce Richardson and Gretel Enck.
Congressional District 23 is the biggest in Texas, stretching all the way from west San Antonio and Eagle Pass along the border to El Paso. According to U.S. Census data, about 806,000 Texans call the district home, 63% of them identifying as Hispanic.
For more coverage and results of the 2026 Texas Primaries, visit kens5.com/elections.