{"id":64540,"date":"2025-11-25T16:29:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T16:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/64540\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T16:29:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T16:29:17","slug":"brandon-herrera-raises-1-million-swipes-at-rep-tony-gonzales-over-alleged-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/64540\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Herrera raises $1 million, swipes at Rep. Tony Gonzales over alleged affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy <\/a> , and give us feedback <\/a> . <\/p>\n

Brandon Herrera, the gun rights activist YouTuber who came within a few hundred votes of unseating U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales in last year\u2019s GOP primary, has raised more than $1 million in his repeat bid against the San Antonio congressman \u2014 eclipsing his own haul from the 2024 cycle with more than three months to go until the primary.<\/p>\n

Since launching his campaign in August, Herrera has raised just over $1.1 million between donations to his various PACs and the $100,000 he personally lent his campaign in September, according to figures first shared with The Texas Tribune. Nearly all of the donated funds \u2014 more than $1 million \u2014 are eligible to be spent on the March 3 primary.<\/p>\n

In a press release announcing his fundraising numbers, Herrera accused his opponent of stepping outside of his marriage \u2014 a reference to media reports he had an extramarital affair with a congressional aide who died earlier this year after setting herself on fire. Gonzales vigorously denied the affair \u2014 reported by conservative Texas outlet Current Revolt<\/a> and the British tabloid Daily Mail<\/a> \u2014 at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile my opponent Tony Gonzales has prioritized betraying President Trump and distracting himself with having extramarital affairs with his congressional staff, I\u2019ve been hard at work listening to the voters of Southwest Texas and heeding their call for a new representative with integrity who will support President Trump, fight for greater affordability, and defend our Constitutional rights,\u201d said Herrera, a conservative firebrand aligned with the party\u2019s hardline faction.<\/p>\n

Gonzales\u2019 appearance at TribFest marked the first time he has publicly spoken about the alleged affair with his district director, Regina Santos-Aviles, 35, who died of suicide by self-immolation at her home in Uvalde, the Bexar County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office told multiple<\/a> San Antonio<\/a> media outlets<\/a>. The Daily Mail later reported that Santos-Aviles\u2019 husband, Adrian Aviles, was aware of the alleged relationship. Santos-Aviles and her husband were reportedly separated at the time of her death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rumors are completely untruthful, and Regina\u2019s family has asked for privacy,\u201d said Gonzales, who is married with six kids, adding that he was not apprised of the circumstances surrounding her death and was waiting on a final report from law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The Texas Tribune has not independently confirmed Current Revolt\u2019s or the Daily Mail\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n

A 2024 redux<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how the episode surrounding Gonzales\u2019 aide might play into the primary. The winner of the GOP contest will be heavily favored in November to capture the far-flung district, which runs from San Antonio to the outskirts of El Paso and reelected Gonzales by a nearly 25-point margin last fall.<\/p>\n

For now, Gonzales maintains a major cash advantage over Herrera, with more than $2.5 million in the bank through the end of September. However, Gonzales led in fundraising throughout their 2024 contest, too, only to win by just 354 votes<\/a> in a runoff, even after U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team came to Gonzales\u2019 aid.<\/p>\n

Herrera has raised nearly all his money this cycle through his joint fundraising committee, a mechanism that allows candidates to fundraise alongside other candidates or organizations and split the profits.<\/p>\n

Herrera uses his joint fundraising committee to benefit his main campaign account and his leadership PAC, which can be used to support fellow candidates. Normal federal contribution limits still apply, which is why Herrera can use most but not all of the money raised for the March 3 primary.<\/p>\n

Herrera, a \u201cguntuber\u201d and activist known online as \u201cThe AK Guy,\u201d has been admonished by the left and the right for his off-color humor. He\u2019s joked about veteran suicide, which drew criticism from Mike Banks, now Trump\u2019s Border Patrol chief, and mocked Trump\u2019s son, Barron Trump. He\u2019s made numerous Holocaust jokes and, in one 2022 montage, marched to Nazi music<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But some conservatives view Herrera as a warrior for the grassroots and their counter to Gonzales, who has been pilloried by activists and censured by the Texas GOP in 2023 for helping pass<\/a> a bipartisan gun safety bill in 2022. Herrera\u2019s more than 4 million YouTube subscribers help make up a nationwide fundraising base that has driven his campaign with small-dollar donations from more than 33,000 individuals.<\/p>\n

In the Texas Tribune Festival interview, Gonzales waved off the threat of Herrera\u2019s second challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve beaten him multiple times, and I\u2019ll beat him again,\u201d he said. \u201cCall \u2019em zombies. You knock \u2019em down, they come back again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy , and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2671,288,287,82,84,83,293],"class_list":{"0":"post-64540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-elections","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","13":"tag-san-antonio-news","14":"tag-texas-legislature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64540","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=64540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}