[Gun Control] The Left’s Attacks on Brandon Herrera Are Getting Dumber

The gun control lobby and their media allies have tried painting Second Amendment advocate and congressional candidate Brandon Herrera as a Nazi, a woman-hating misogynist, and a carpet bagger. None of those attacks have really landed, with a new poll released a few days ago showing Herrera with a six-point lead over his Democrat opponent in TX-23. 

Now the San Antonio News Express is attempting to create another controversy where none exists: accusing him of inflating his net worth. 

Herrera said last month he was going to refile his financial disclosure statement because it did not accurately state his income. That disclosure reported that Herrera earned approximately $84,000 last year, which the Express-News says is far below what Herrera has previously said about his income. 

Earlier this year Herrera told the San Antonio Express-News that he has made around $2 million in revenue from his businesses, including his YouTube channel, his podcast, a streaming service called Pepperbox TV, a merchandise retailer, an energy drink company, and his firearms manufacturing business. He did not disclose any assets in his filing.

His disclosure for this year’s race is similar to a 2023 filing for the same seat, where he reported his income from the previous year as about $84,000.

Herrera also said the $174,000 salary he’d receive as a congressman would represent about a 90 percent pay cut from his current earnings, which would indicate that he’s making close to $1.75 million at the moment. 

Punchbowl News reported in July that Herrera’s financial disclosure did not include his stated partial ownership of Firearms Direct Club and Stark Media Group, along with “any other assets, income, positions or liabilities — not even a checking account.” To me, that’s a pretty solid piece of evidence that the disclosure was filed in error, as Herrera has asserted all along. 

But let’s assume for a second that the Express-News insinuations are correct and that Herrera hasn’t made as much money as he says he has. Is that really a disqualification? Honestly, in our current political environment not being a millionaire would probably be more beneficial to Herrera’s political future than having a seven-figure income. 

For what it’s worth, Herrera’s opponent Katy Padilla Stout reported in May that she earns more than $275,000, which is pretty good money for a candidate who downplays her net worth by talking up her time as a public school teacher and “attorney for children in the foster care system.” Her husband Austin, who Padilla Stout described as a “career prosecutor” in Bexar County in a candidate profile published in January, has apparently changed his career and now works for the Texas Department of Insurance at a salary of $126,800. She reported that he also received more than $18,000 from UT-San Antonio and Our Lady of the Lake University after receiving $97,000 from Bexar County last year. 

The race for TX-23 isn’t going to come down to who has the bigger bank account, and any errors in Herrera’s initial financial disclosure will be a non-issue for voters. What matters is who is best on the issues that voters are most concerned about, and TX-23 has always been a district that’s supported the Second Amendment. The last Democrat to represent the district in Congress was Pete Gallego, who ran as a pro-gun Dem and won a single term in 2012 before he was defeated by Republican Will Hurd in his reelection bid. 

Democrats are trying to demonize Brandon Herrera however they can, and the most recent poll of the district was closer than I’d like, with Herrera up by six points. If Second Amendment supporters turn out on Election Day, though, Herrera wins. My guess is they couldn’t care less if the $174,000 salary he’d earn is a 90 percent pay cut or a 90 percent pay raise. What’s important to them is having a congresscritter who won’t work to decimate our Second Amendment rights but will champion them instead, and there’s only one candidate in TX-23 that fits that description.  

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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