GOP House Leadership Tells TX-23s Gonzales to Take a Hike and Cede Primary to ‘The AK Guy”

President Donald Trump says he’ll soon issue his endorsement in the bruising Texas Senate primary between Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent John Cornyn, but he’s not the only D.C denizen trying to shape the Texas elections. 

On Thursday, House leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, implored embattled Rep. Tony Gonzales to drop his re-election bid after Gonzales finally confessed to having an affair with a staffer who later took her own life by self-immolation. 

“The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge them to act expeditiously,” Johnson and the three other highest-ranking House Republicans said in a statement. “In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election.”

A Gonzales spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Gonzales has advanced to a May 26 runoff against GOP challenger Brandon Herrera, who narrowly outpolled him in Tuesday’s primary. He previously denied the accusations as “rumors” that “are completely untruthful” before admitting to the affair with Regina Santos-Aviles earlier this month.

“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales told radio host Joe Pagliarulo shortly after the primary.

He said the affair had “absolutely nothing to do with” Santos-Aviles’ death.

I have no idea if that last statement by Gonzales is true or not, but I’m not the only one who’s skeptical of every word that comes out of Gonzales’s mouth.

So far the House leadership is making a somewhat polite request of Gonzales, but if they really want to hammer home their message the House Republican Campaign Committee should start spending in support of Brandon Herrera and position him as the candidate of the general election. 

Gonzales had a surprisingly strong showing in the TX-23 primary on Tuesday, but now that he’s admitted to lying about his affair I don’t see any path to victory for him in the May runoff election. Dropping out would allow Herrera to shift towards a general election strategy, and that can’t come a moment too soon given that Democrats overperformed this week. 

With 99% of precincts reporting, there were 55,062 votes cast in the Republican primary and 58,950 votes in the Democrat primary. Participation in the Democrat primary more than doubled from two years ago, and what has been a safe Republican district could be a genuine tossup this November. Every dollar that Herrera spends fighting back against Gonzales’ doomed campaign, and every dollar delusional donors give to Gonzales in his quixotic bid at re-election is a dollar that would be better spent campaigning against Democrat candidate Katy Padilla Stout. 

Dropping out of the race would be the honorable thing to do, but Gonzales hasn’t exhibited much moral fortitude lately, and I’m not counting on him complying with the request of House leadership. I don’t know if Herrera’s internal polling is showing a collapse in support for Gonzales yet, but regardless I’d encourage him to run like he’s already the nominee, ignoring Gonzales and turning his attention instead to the woman he’ll face in the general election.