DALLAS — Republican U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales barely won his Primary runoff against his opponent. Gonzales defeated Brandon Herrera, a gun rights activist, by just 407 votes, 50.7% to 49.3%.
Gonzales attributed his razor-thin margin to the size of his district and his lack of "BS."
“It was so close because I happened to represent the toughest district in America. Texas 23 is absolutely brutal. It's larger than 30 states. It's two time zones. I really represent four different types of people. And I'd also say two: I'm a little early in my -- in politics. I'm not very good at the polished BS yet, and I hope I never get that way,” Gonzales said on Inside Texas Politics.
He also said he worked hard to deliver for his district -- for veterans and on the border.
President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order that would limit and stop the number of asylum seekers entering the country, or stop all asylum seekers from coming across the border if the number of immigrants exceeds 2,500 on any given day.
Gonzales believes that the president’s order isn’t a good idea and that the president might have issued it too late.
“I wish I could believe in the tooth fairy, but I don't anymore. And what I'm seeing is... I no longer believe in what Joe Biden says or does -- and so, on one end, you could say, is the dollar short a day late -- on the other end, I just don’t believe what they’re going to do,” said Gonzales.
Across the US-Mexico border, Mexicans elected Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president. Sheinbaum won in a landslide victory. She is a former mayor of Mexico City.
Rep. Gonzales met with Sheinbaum a couple of months ago in Mexico City. He talked with her about Mexico and Texas joining together as partners.
“We need to be partners in security. We need to be partners in economics. We need to be partners in oil and gas and energy and these other areas. And that is what we're looking for,” explained Gonzales.
Gonzales also said that Mexico and Texas need to work together to secure the border.