The Texas Republican Party censured Rep. Tony Gonzales on Saturday for his “lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities,” after the congressman defied the GOP on key issues including immigration, guns, and House rules.
The State Republican Executive Committee passed the rare censure resolution in a vote of 57-5, with one member abstaining. Saturday’s vote marks only the second time the Texas Republican Party has censured a member of its own party, with the first time being then-state House Speaker Joe Straus in 2018, according to the Texas Tribune.
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Gonzales’s censure means the state Republican party is free to oppose him in his next primary race. The party is otherwise required to remain neutral in intraparty races.
The Texas congressman was not present for the vote, citing his leadership of a congressional delegation trip near the Mexican border in Eagle Pass and Uvalde on Monday. Gonzales has defended his voting decisions regarding guns, where he was the only Republican to vote for gun safety laws, and his support of legislation codifying same-sex marriage.
“If the vote was today, I would vote twice on it if I could,” Gonzales said in response to a gun law, which includes expanded background checks and was passed after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas last year in his district.
Gonzales added that he has voted almost 1,400 times, most of which he voted “with the Republican Party.”
Gonzales broke with Texas Republicans on a pending GOP border security measure led by Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). Gonzales rebuked the HR 29 proposal as too radical, drawing outrage from immigration hardliners who want the GOP House to move on the measure.
Gonzales was also the only Republican to vote against the House rules package hammered out by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), citing concerns about defense spending cuts and lowering the threshold to force the speaker from office.
Gonzales’ campaign issued a response on Saturday that did not mention the SREC’s vote, though did take aim at the state’s Republican Party.
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“Today, like every day, Congressman Tony Gonzales went to work on behalf of the people of TX-23,” campaign spokesperson Evan Albertson said. “He talked to veterans, visited with Border Patrol agents, and met constituents in a county he flipped from blue to red. The Republican Party of Texas would be wise to follow his lead and do some actual work.”
Gonzales was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2020. He was reelected by double digits in 2022 after redistricting maps made his constituency more conservative.
