In tragedy-torn Uvalde,
it’s a scandal-ridden incumbent
or ‘the AK Guy’

UVALDE, Texas — Down the road from the site of one of the deadliest school shootings in history,
the man known to his 4 million subscribers as “the AK Guy”
laid out the singular reason he wanted to represent the area in Congress:
guns.

“I’m [supposed to be] represented by a conservative,” the candidate,
#Brandon #Herrera, told a few dozen people at a campaign stop here this week.

So “why is my Texas Republican voting with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden on a gun control bill?”

Herrera, a 30-year-old firearms manufacturer,
said he had been content rallying for the Second Amendment at statehouses and on his YouTube channel.

That changed in 2022, when Rep. #Tony #Gonzales (R)
— the area’s current congressman
— became one of a few Republicans to vote for a federal gun control law inspired by the school shooting.

Herrera went onto challenge Gonzales two years ago,
coming within 354 votes of securing the nomination.

Now, after another tragedy that has rocked this town in the South Texas scrublands,
he may be better positioned to win the party’s nod

Gonzales’s campaign in the last week has been rocked by allegations
that he engaged in an affair with a longtime staffer, who grew up in Uvalde
and then lit herself on fire outside her home here.

The congressman has denied any sort of inappropriate relationship.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/28/uvalde-texas-brandon-herrera-tony-gonzales-affair-congress/