Texas GOP censures U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales

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The Republican Party of Texas voted Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, over his fresh votes that break up with the birthday party.

The State Republican Executive Committee handed the censure answer 57-5, with one member abstaining. It wanted majority strengthen to cross.

The transfer lets in the birthday party, which is differently required to stay impartial in intraparty contests, to put aside that rule for Gonzales’ subsequent number one.

The ultimate — and most effective — time the state birthday party censured one in every of its personal like this used to be in 2018, when the perpetrator used to be then-state House Speaker Joe Straus. He used to be additionally a average from San Antonio.

Gonzales didn’t seem on the SREC assembly however addressed the problem after an unrelated news convention Thursday in San Antonio. He particularly defended his vote for the bipartisan gun regulation that handed ultimate yr after the Uvalde college taking pictures in his district. He stated that if the vote have been held once more as of late, “I would vote twice on it if I could.”

“The reality is I’ve taken almost 1,400 votes, and the bulk of those have been with the Republican Party,” Gonzales stated.

Gonzales’ marketing campaign replied to the censure in a commentary that dinged the state birthday party.

“Today, like every day, Congressman Tony Gonzales went to work on behalf of the people of TX-23. He talked to veterans, visited with Border Patrol agents, and met constituents in a county he flipped from blue to red. The Republican Party of Texas would be wise to follow his lead and do some actual work,” marketing campaign spokesperson Evan Albertson stated.

There used to be no public debate over the censure on the SREC’s quarterly assembly Saturday in Austin. The committee went into government consultation for approximately an hour earlier than returning and right away vote casting at the answer.

The SREC is the 64-member governing frame of the state birthday party and contains a few of its maximum concerned activists, giving it a staunchly conservative make-up.

Gonzales has now not drawn any critical number one challengers but, however the censure may just embolden the ones taking into account a run. After the censure, Gonzales were given backup from the National Republican Congressional Committee, the marketing campaign arm for House Republicans.

“Congressman Gonzales is a valued member of the House majority, and we look forward to supporting his re-election,” NRCC spokesperson Delanie Bomar stated in a commentary.

The authentic censure answer got here from Medina County, which is west of San Antonio and a part of Gonzales’ twenty third District. It cited his strengthen for the bipartisan gun regulation that handed ultimate yr, in addition to his vote for a invoice codifying protections for same-sex marriage. The answer additionally pointed to his vote in opposition to the House laws package deal in January and his opposition to a border safety invoice being driven by means of fellow Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Austin.

Gonzales used to be one in every of most effective 14 Republicans to vote for the gun regulation — and the one one from Texas. He used to be the one GOP vote in opposition to the principles package deal, and he has stood on my own amongst Texas Republicans in forcefully criticizing Roy’s invoice, announcing it might successfully finish asylum. Roy has denied that.