Texas congressman’s break with GOP could lead to conviction

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Texas on Saturday faced rare potential condemnation from his state party over a vote that included support for new gun safety laws. after the shooting at the Uvalde school it was in his area.

The Texas GOP condemnation will highlight how the two-term congressman’s willingness to break with conservatives on key issues during his short term in office irritated both GOP activists and some of his colleagues.

This independent streak includes opposition to the Republican Party’s large-scale immigration proposal across the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes much of his South Texas county. He also voted to defend same-sex marriage and was strongly opposed to the House Rules package after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy became speaker.

Gonzalez was defiant ahead of the vote, which was to be held at a meeting of Texas GOP leaders and activists in Austin. His presence was not expected.

“We’ll see how things go,” he told reporters in San Antonio on Thursday.

As a practical matter, the censure would allow the state party to step aside if Gonzalez runs again in 2024 and spend money to remind primary voters of the censure. Three-fifths of the votes of the State Republican Executive Committee are required to issue a censure. More than a dozen GOP district clubs in Gonzales County have already approved local censure resolutions.

Gonzalez made it through his GOP primary and easily won re-election last year in his predominantly Hispanic congressional district. He first won in 2020, taking the seat left by Republican Will Hurd, who has also not hesitated to break with the Republican Party and whose aides say he is now considering running for president.

The potential condemnation illustrates the partisan battles that are still flaring up in America’s biggest red state, even as Republicans celebrate 20 years of complete control of the Texas Legislature and every office in the state.

Last year, former Texas Republican Party chairman Allen West stepped down to launch a weak primary challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. In 2018, the State Party also denounced a former moderate speaker of the Texas House of Representatives who opposed restrictions on transgender toilets.

After the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers, Gonzalez supported a wide-ranging and bipartisan gun violence bill signed into law by President Joe Biden. He is also the only Texas Republican in the statehouse or Congress to have called for the resignation of the state police chief due to the inept law enforcement response to the attack.

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