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SEARCH YOUR LOCAL RACES
Votes
%
Brandon Herrera(R)
Tony Gonzales*(R)
Keith Barton(R)
Francisco "Quico" Canseco(R)
(367 / 371)
Votes
%
Katy Padilla Stout(D)
Santos Limon(D)
Bruce Richardson(D)
Gretel Enck(D)
(371 / 1,241)
11:40 p.m. - One of the most-watched U.S. House races in the country is Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, which includes roughly 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, stretching from San Antonio to El Paso.
On the Republican side, Congressman Tony Gonzales faced a rematch against a popular YouTuber Brandon Herrera. In the last election, Herrera took Gonzales to a runoff that ended with a roughly 400-vote difference.
It was close this time around, too. As of this writing, Gonzales had 43% while Herrera had 42%.
It’s almost certain Gonzales and Herrera will go to a runoff on Tuesday, May 26.
Herrera told KSAT he thinks his campaign had “a lot of advantages that we didn’t have last time.”
“I think that a lot people are looking for the office to have the same sort of integrity that it always needed to, and not only that, but somebody who actually represents the conservative voice of a very conservative district,” Herrera said.
Gonzales did not have a public watch party KSAT was aware of. In an X post Monday night, he thanked President Donald Trump and supporters.
“Onward to a victorious May,” Gonzales wrote.
Katy Padilla Stout (54%) appears to have avoided a runoff against Santos Limon (24%) in the Democratic primary race. Bruce Richardson (12%) is in third place.
Padilla Stout said if she won the Democratic primary, she would immediately focus on the November election.
“If we were to win tonight I think that that would send a very strong message that we’re ready for new leadership, we’re ready for new change, we’re ready for something different and we’re ready for somebody who can relate to the common everyday people that are here in District 23,” she told KSAT.
BACKGROUND
The primary race for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District has heated up as controversy surrounds incumbent Tony Gonzales.
District 23 covers roughly 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, stretching from San Antonio to El Paso.
There are four Republican candidates and four Democratic candidates, listed below in alphabetical order.
Republican candidates:
- Keith Barton
- Francisco “Quico” Canseco
- Tony Gonzales (Incumbent)
- Brandon Herrera
Democratic candidates:
- Gretel Enck
- Santos Limon
- Katy Padilla Stout
- Bruce Richardson
Historically, the district has brought a close race between both parties, flipping every few years through the early 2000s. But in the last decade, there has been a strong Republican hold on the congressional seat.
Gonzales is running for his fourth term in office. Last fall, KSAT Investigates first reported the death of his Uvalde-based aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, and there were reports he had an affair with her.
Gonzales has refused to answer questions about the alleged affair for months. Sexually explicit text messages were later made public between the two.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Gonzales, but several Republican lawmakers have called for Gonzales’ resignation, including the other three Republican candidates in this race.
Keith Barton
Barton is a Marine Corps veteran. He now works in operations and logistics. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1998 and remained in the military until his departure in 2017.
He previously told KSAT’s Avery Everett that he plans to allocate funds to fix leaks in West Texas.
Barton also hopes to secure the U.S.-Mexico border “without shutting the door” on immigrants with the proper legal documentation.
Francisco “Quico” Canseco
For Canseco, the District 23 congressional seat is a familiar one.
Canseco served as the U.S. representative from January 2011 to January 2013. He lost his reelection bid in 2012 but is ready to take back the seat again.
According to Ballotpedia, Canseco earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from St. Louis University.
His career experience includes serving as president and director of FMC Developers and as chairman of Texas Heritage Bancshares.
Canseco also managed his own law practice for five years.
Gretel Enck
Public service has been Enck’s passion for the last 25 years. She worked with the National Park Service.
According to Enck’s campaign website, she worked in parks across Utah, Alaska, California and at Manzanar National Historic Site.
“Gretel is running because she understands what is at stake,” her website said, in part. “She knows the damage caused when leaders ignore public lands, public institutions, and the needs of working families.”
Brandon Herrera
Herrera, a Second Amendment activist, is a well-known social media personality with over four million YouTube subscribers.
He pursued a career in pre-law before focusing on building a small firearms manufacturing business.
“Brandon is a very strong constitutionalist who believes one of the keys to individual Liberty is limiting federal power as much as possible, and returning that power to the states to decide issues for themselves,” his campaign website states.
Recently, Herrera has taken jabs at his opponent, Gonzales, calling on the congressman to “resign.”
He fell just about 400 votes short of defeating Gonzales in the 2024 GOP runoff. Now, two years later, he says his campaign is stronger and that he’s aiming for a comeback.
Santos Limon
Limon is another familiar face in the race for the District 23 seat. He ran against Gonzales in the November 2024 election.
The three guiding principles of his campaign are what he calls the union coalition, the LGBTQ+ coalition and the veteran coalition.
Katy Padilla Stout
Padilla Stout is an attorney and educator, but her proudest title is mom.
Padilla Stout told KSAT that affordability and education are two top issues she has been focusing on in her campaign.
“If we can’t afford our day-to-day life, if we can’t have a decent standard of living for our citizens, then every other part of our society kind of collapses,” Padilla Stout said. “I’ve run on the platform of having or helping happy, healthy families.”
Bruce Richardson
Richardson has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a graduate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas.
According to his Ballotpedia profile, Richardson has career experience as an accountant.
He previously told KSAT that the affordability crisis is the issue he has heard most about from voters.
If there are three or more candidates in a race and none of them win more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to the May 26 primary runoff.
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