PERSON: Tony Gonzales

U.S. House of Representatives

Member of Congress

Ernest Anthony Gonzales II (born October 10, 1980) is an American politician and United States Navy veteran who has served as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2021, representing over 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Gonzales is considered a moderate Republican, having voted for proposals such as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Respect for Marriage Act. In 2023 he was the sole Texas Republican in the House to oppose the Border Safety and Security Act of 2023. These positions resulted in a censure from the Texas Republican Party. He is also one of 18 Republicans who voted against Jim Jordan’s nomination for speaker of the House all three times, and only Republican to have voted against the House rules package afterwards.

Gonzales’s votes have prompted several conservative primary challengers in 2024. Gonzales received only 45% of the vote in the Republican primary, less than the 50% needed to avoid a runoff election. He won the nomination with 50.7% of the vote in the runoff election.

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