WASHINGTON — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding Texas’ 23rd Congressional District to its target list, the third red-leaning, Hispanic-majority U.S. House seat to make it onto national Democrats’ radar ahead of November.
In adding the seat to its “Districts in Play” list, the House Democratic campaign arm is signaling party leaders’ growing belief that they can flip the sprawling district, which runs from San Antonio into West Texas and has been held by Republicans since 2015. The designation also means the DCCC can spend against the Republican nominee in the district.
The 23rd District, which covers a large chunk of the Texas-Mexico border, was most recently represented by Tony Gonzales, a moderate Republican who resigned earlier this year over a sex scandal with a staffer.
Katy Padilla Stout, a San Antonio attorney and former teacher, is the Democratic nominee in the district.
Her Republican foe this fall, gun rights activist and YouTuber Brandon Herrera, had challenged Gonzales in the primary and forced him into a runoff. He secured the GOP nomination after the congressman dropped out of the race before the runoff election.
Herrera, a highly online influencer and activist with a history of edgy, controversial comments, fits a different mold than the district’s recent representatives, including Gonzales and the moderate Republican who preceded him, former Rep. Will Hurd. Herrera is endorsed by the Freedom Caucus Fund, which aims to grow the caucus of hardline conservatives known for its absolutist approach and willingness to defy GOP leadership.
The district voted for President Donald Trump by a 15-point margin in 2024, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district as “likely Republican.” It has not favored Democrats in any recent statewide election, voting for Sen. Ted Cruz by a 3-point margin in 2018, the best election cycle for Texas Democrats this century.
But DCCC chair Suzan DelBene said Democrats see an opening to play offense because of polling that has shown Hispanic voters’ support for Trump eroding, along with Herrera’s trail of contentious remarks.
“Brandon Herrera’s disturbing history of extremism, violence, and antisemitic rhetoric puts this open Congressional district squarely in play,” DelBene said in a statement.
Herrera has made Holocaust jokes on his YouTube channel and discussed owning a copy of “Mein Kampf,” both of which were among the footage circulated by Democrats after Herrera locked up the nomination. His campaign has dismissed allegations of antisemitism as “bizarre, desperate and false.” A spokesperson previously noted that Herrera has “simulated the execution and poisoning of Adolf Hitler” in his work as a historical firearms educator, and that the clip of him discussing Hitler’s book omitted his comments “ridiculing and condemning” it.
Thus far, Herrera has outraised Padilla Stout over the course of the cycle. At last count, Federal Election Commission records showed that Herrera had $309,000 in his main campaign account at the end of June, to Padilla Stout’s $171,000.
Republicans currently have a 218-212 majority in the U.S. House. Democrats need a net gain of three seats in order to win control of the lower chamber.
The redistricting war kicked off by Texas Republicans last year yielded more newly drawn seats that favor the GOP than the number redrawn to elect Democrats. The House’s minority party could recapture the chamber without winning seats like the 23rd District. But to build a buffer and avoid the chaos that has stemmed from Republicans’ wafer-thin majority, Democrats will need to win in more Trump-friendly districts like this one.
With the addition of the district, the DCCC is now targeting three seats in South Texas, with a list that already included the 15th Congressional District, represented by Edinburg GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz, and the 35th Congressional District, an open seat anchored in Bexar County and redrawn to favor Republicans. All three have majority-Hispanic voting populations.
On the GOP side, the National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting five seats in Texas, all of which were redrawn by the Legislature to be friendlier to Republicans. They include the 9th Congressional District in Houston, the 32nd Congressional District in North Texas, the open 35th District and the Trump-leaning seats of two incumbent Democrats: Rep. Henry Cuellar’s Laredo-based district and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s Rio Grande Valley seat.
