YouTuber Brandon Herrera will request a recount in his Republican primary against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales on Friday.
Herrera told the Texas Tribune he will request recounts in Bexar, El Paso, Medina and Uvalde counties after trailing Gonzales by 407 votes in a race that drew national attention as a battle between the more moderate and more conservative wings of the Republican party.
Last week, Herrera indicated he would accept the election results, saying the slim margin, despite running a campaign financed by Gonzales, was in itself a major achievement.
However, Herrera told the Tribune that his campaign had expected to call a recount “from day 1” because of the tight margin — about 1.4 percentage points.
“I do not expect the results to change, but I feel I owe it to my volunteers, constituents and supporters to leave no stone unturned,” Herrera said in a statement.
In a video posted to his YouTube page Friday afternoon, Herrera said he had heard several questions about a recount given “a few inconsistencies due to the counting the night of the election.”
“We don’t have any real evidence of anything that we think would move the needle enough to overturn the results,” Herrera noted.
As for financing the recount, Herrera said a number of people have offered to pay for part of it and he would pay the rest out of his own pocket.
Texas’ 23rd Congressional District is the state’s largest congressional district by land area, covering 29 counties from West Texas to San Antonio and Eagle Pass. The recount requests target the three counties that cast the most votes in the runoff: Bexar, Medina and Uvalde counties, home to San Antonio, Hondo and Uvalde, respectively. The requests also target El Paso County, whose rural areas fall within the district.
According to unofficial election results, Gonzales carried Bexar County by 7,917 votes to Herrera’s 6,800 votes, Herrera carried Medina County by 2,215 votes to Gonzales’ 2,138 votes, Gonzales carried Uvalde County by 1,312 votes to Herrera’s 1,052 votes, and Herrera carried El Paso County by 382 votes to Gonzales’ 266 votes.
The race was Gonzales’ first since his censure by the Republican Party of Texas last March for taking centrist positions that the more culturally conservative state party found objectionable.
Gonzales’ censure came after his opposition to a tough U.S.-Mexico border bill by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and his support for bipartisan gun safety legislation after the Robb Elementary shooting.
The censure opened Gonzales to primary challenges, and Herrera was endorsed by the Bexar County GOP and the campaign arm of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, was the first high-profile name to endorse Herrera, bringing him to the stage during a speech at the Texas GOP Convention days before the runoff. The U.S. House Republican leadership, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick endorsed Gonzales.
Herrera is known for his online persona, dubbed “the AK Guy,” and his irreverent sense of humor in YouTube videos and podcast appearances. His anomalous online reputation was seen as a problem by some in his party, but it eventually became an important platform, allowing him to spread his message widely and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“This is not the end. I’m not done fighting yet. There are plenty of other great Americans who need support, and there are many places where they can make a difference,” Herrera wrote on social media two days after election night. “I’m not going backwards, this is just the end of this particular chapter. I’m going nowhere.”
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