On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Tony Gonzales, the sitting U.S. House Representative for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District who was first elected in the 2020 election, sliding into the seat formerly held by Will Hurd with just 50.6% of the vote. Please do not mistake him for former NFL Hall of Fame Tight End Tony Gonzalez, nor Ohio GOP Congressman and former Ohio State and Indianapolis Colts’ wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez (who found himself unworthy of his deranged party for daring to impeach Donald Trump). No, this Gonzales was elected was in spite of the fact that during an interview in October of 2020, Gonzales twisted himself in knots for minutes to not answer the question when a reporter asked him “Would you label the KKK a terror group?” Apparently, that’s now the third rail for GOP candidates, to admit a white supremacist organization whose history of lynchings, cross burnings, and acts of violence against African Americans are terrorists. Eventually, Gonzales shrugged it off by blaming his lack of desire on Covid-19, saying, “We’re living in COVID. There’s a million things going on. You have this much oxygen in the room. And it’s not to talk about the KKK.”
Pretty big red flag about supporting racists, right? Well, in September of 2021, Rep. Gonzales gave everyone another pretty big tell, when after videos emerged of members of the U.S. Border Patrol on horseback literally whipping Haitian migrants crossing the U.S., Gonzales gave his support for their flogging the border-crossers, saying “They’re doing God’s Work”. Last we read the Bible, Jesus said quite a bit about welcoming immigrants, but that aside, it’s pretty much a no-brainer to defend something this barbaric.
But those are the sorts of things someone has to be cowardly enough to not support in order to win over most Republican voters, who can’t get enough of seeing cruel things happen to people who look different than they do. And then, there’s Gonzales’ voting record:
- January 7th, 2021: Tony Gonzales votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Gonzales votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Tony Gonzales votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Gonzales votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Gonzales votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Tony Gonzales votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Gonzales votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Gonzales votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Rep. Gonzales votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- November 5th, 2021: Tony Gonzales votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Gonzales votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Tony Gonzales would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: Tony Gonzales is one of 192 Republicans who votes against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Gonzales votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Gonzales votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- July 15th, 2022: Tony Gonzales votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
- July 21st, 2022: Gonzales is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
- December 6th, 2022: Gonzales, embracing the GOP’s white nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment votes against HR 7946, which was meant to honor the promise to grant citizenship to immigrants who served in the United States Armed Forces.
Texas’ 23rd Congressional District still has only a +5 Republican lean per the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and the only thing that kept this seat from flipping blue the past several election cycles was Greg Abbott’s voter suppression efforts, and when Will Hurd held it, at least he had the image of a “moderate” Republican. Not that the Texas GOP are start enough to understand the political calculus of that, having censured Tony Gonzales in 2023 for not going alone with all the party’s worst instincts.
Whether or not he falls to a primary challenge to his right, or Democrats manage to flip this district… Tony Gonzales does not seem long for office.
One Year Ago, October 4th, 2022: Tony Gonzales (TX)…Original Profile
Two Years Ago, October 4th, 2021: Russ Ramsland (TX)
Three Years Ago, October 4th, 2020: Rich Helms (TX)
Four Years Ago, October 4th, 2019: Beverly Goldstein (OH)
Five Years Ago, October 4th, 2018: Ted Poe (TX)… 2018 Update
Six Years Ago, October 4th, 2017: Ted Poe (TX)… 2017 Update
Seven Years Ago, October 4th, 2016: Ted Poe (TX)… 2016 Update
Eight Years Ago, October 4th, 2015: Ted Poe (TX)…Original Profile
Nine Years Ago, October 4th, 2014: Ben Quayle (AZ)
