A pro-gun YouTuber known for recreating the assassination of US presidents online is a challenger for the Texas congressional district that takes in Uvalde, the site of one of the country’s worst ever school shootings.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, who currently holds the seat, failed to clinch victory in Tuesday’s primary.
Now, he will face off against Brandon Herrera in a May primary run-off.
Gonzales is a moderate Republican who voted for gun control after the horrific Uvalde school massacre in 2022.
But in a sign of the area’s unwavering support of the 2nd Amendment, he is now being challenged by Herrera.
Texas Congressional candidate and Second Amendment fanatic Brandon Herrera has 3.2 million followers on YouTube, where he recreates the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, JFK and MLK
In the YouTube video of the Lincoln assassination he recreated, Congressional candidate Brandon Herrera smashed open a fake skull that was supposed to represents Lincoln’s head and pulled out the brain, squeezing fake blood out of it
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, center, speaking at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. in July 2021
Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 19 students and two teachers – and wounded 17 others – at Robb Elementary School in the Texas city during the May 24 rampage
The 23rd Congressional district in Texas is home to Uvalde, a South Texas town where parents are still grieving the loss of 19 kids and two teachers who were slaughtered by a gunman at Robb elementary on May 24, 2022.
Fourth graders heads were blown of their bodies after being shot with an AR-15 style rifle that killer Salvador Ramos purchased legally a few days after his 18th birthday.
The parents of kids who survived the horror by covering themselves in their dead classmate’s blood will be eligible to vote in this election.
While Uvalde and the surrounding towns are known as a hunter’s dream and normally very gun friendly, some locals have pleaded for gun control following the tragedy.
Gonzales voted in favor of a 2022 bipartisan law that provides funding to states with “red flag” laws that allow judges to take firearms away from people who are an immediate danger to themselves or others and has enhanced background checks for gun sales.
Harrowing images show distraught Uvalde students with blood-soaked hair and clothes fleeing Robb Elementary on school bus as one girl tearfully tells cops how she tried not to cry while calling 911 to report mass shooting
Brandon Herrera, a gun fanatic who has more than three million YouTube follower, bragged online about testifying against the ATF, the federal agency tasked with gun control
Congressional District 23 in Texas includes Uvalde and about 400 miles of US border with Mexico. Migrant crossing hot spots like Eagle Pass and El Paso are also part of the district
And the moderate Republican paid for it.
The Texas Republican party voted to censure Gonzales as a result– even though the congressman is an outspoken critic of the Biden Administration, lambasting the President’s border policies on a daily basis.
However, the vast Congressional seat– which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso– is also home to many border communities, including migrant crossing hot spots like Eagle Pass, Del Rio and El Paso.
Voters there traditionally lean Democrat, which could be an uphill battler for Herrera, who has low-name recognition with locals despite his army of followers and online notoriety.
Herrera has also called on ending the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of ATF.
The federal agency is charged with gun regulation.
That could be a hard sell for the many federal agents and military personnel who live in the district.
The winner of the primary will face Democrat Santos Limon in the November general election.
Neither the Herrera or Gonzales campaigns responded to a request for comment.