Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales faces a rare possible vote of no confidence from his party in the state because of his support for new gun safety laws, following the massacre of children at the Uvalde school, which happened in his district.
A censure by the Texas Republican Party would be a sign of the hostility that the congressman has aroused among his co-religionists by showing himself willing to vote against the right on several crucial issues.
Gonzales demonstrated his independence when he opposed a Republican immigration reform bill on the Mexican border, which encompasses a large portion of his South Texas district. He, too, has voted in defense of same-sex marriage and openly rejected a House rules package after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy became president.
Gonzales has been defiant ahead of the vote, scheduled for the next few hours on Saturday during a meeting of Republican leaders and activists in Austin. His assistance was not expected.
“We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in San Antonio on Thursday.
From a practical point of view, the blackout would allow the party to spend money to remember the censure if Gonzales runs for re-election in 2024. The blackout requires three-fifths of the vote in the State Republican Executive Committee. More than a dozen local Republican clubs in the Gonzales district have passed bans.
Gonzales won the Republican primary and re-election in his heavily Hispanic district by a wide margin. He won for the first time in 2020 to fill the seat vacated by Republican Will Hurd, who was also not afraid of voting against his party and, according to his aides, is considering a presidential run.
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