{"id":201155,"date":"2026-03-12T09:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201155\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:34:12","slug":"trump-endorses-brandon-herrera-for-texas-house-seat-after-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201155\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump endorses Brandon Herrera for Texas House seat after primary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Donald Trump<\/a> on Wednesday endorsed Texas Republican Brandon Herrera after his primary rival exited the race amid an ethics investigation into an admitted affair with a former staffer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Herrera, a self-described <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/personal-freedoms\/second-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Second Amendment<\/a> activist and social media personality, was touted by Trump as a Republican who would promote the MAGA agenda in Texas\u2019 23rd District.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Brandon is strongly supported by many Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in Texas, and Republicans in the U.S. House,&#8221; Trump said in a post on Truth Social. &#8220;As your next Congressman, he will work tirelessly to advance our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Agenda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Brandon will fight hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Advance MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Safeguard our Elections, Champion School Choice, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Brave Military, Veterans, and Law Enforcement, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,&#8221; Trump added.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/mike-johnson-asks-embattled-house-republican-tony-gonzales-drop-re-election-bid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MIKE JOHNSON ASKS EMBATTLED HOUSE REPUBLICAN TONY GONZALES TO DROP RE-ELECTION BID<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/brandon-herrera-texas.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Republican House candidate Brandon Herrera speaking into a microphone\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera speaks during a campaign rally at the Constantino S Pizza restaurant in Somerset, Texas on Feb. 26, 2026. (\u00a0Brandon Bell\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Herrera thanked the president for his endorsement, which adds to backing from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/house-of-representatives\/republicans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">conservative lawmakers<\/a>, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Mary Miller, R-Ill.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you President Trump,&#8221; he said in a post on X. &#8220;It\u2019s now time to take the fight to the Democrats in November and continue working to deliver great wins for TX23 and the rest of the nation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s endorsement comes after Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, announced last week that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/rep-tony-gonzales-announces-he-not-seek-re-election-amid-house-ethics-investigation-affair\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">would not seek re-election<\/a>, clearing the path for Herrera to claim the GOP nomination.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-ally-clay-fuller-advances-georgia-fight-mtgs-former-seat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TRUMP ALLY CLAY FULLER ADVANCES IN GEORGIA FIGHT FOR MTG\u2019S FORMER SEAT<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tony-gonzales-01.jpg\" alt=\"Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, exited the race as he faced a House Ethics investigation into an admitted affair with a former staffer. (Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Herrera narrowly edged Gonzales by a 43.33% to 41.73% margin in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Texas\u2019 GOP primary<\/a> for the 23rd Congressional District earlier this month, forcing a runoff because neither candidate earned 50% of the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Gonzales \u2014 who was initially backed by Trump \u2014 bowed out of the race amid a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/house-republican-faces-ethics-investigation-over-affair-allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">House Ethics investigation into<\/a> an affair he admitted took place with a former staffer.<\/p>\n<p>Gonzales, a married father of six, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/gop-rep-tony-gonzales-admits-affair-former-aide-first-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">admitted to the affair<\/a> during an appearance on a conservative talk radio show the day after advancing to the primary runoff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,&#8221; he said on &#8220;The Joe Pags Show&#8221; last week. &#8220;Since then, I&#8217;ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I&#8217;ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/president-trump-march-7-2026.jpg\" alt=\"President Donald Trump\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media traveling on Air Force One while heading to Miami on March 7, 2026.\u00a0 (Roberto Schmidt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Herrera previously called his opponent\u2019s withdrawal from the race the &#8220;appropriate decision.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He will face Katy Padilla Stout, a local attorney and the Democratic nominee, in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed Texas Republican Brandon Herrera&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[145,22556,61863,2424,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-201155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-donald-trump","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-house-of-representatives-politics","tag-republicans","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}