This article has been updated.
The Republican Party of Bexar County on Tuesday voted down a proposal to censure U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn over their support for a bipartisan gun safety law passed after the school shooting in Uvalde.
Though numerous members of the county executive committee expressed their displeasure with the two Republicans, some in the crowd appealed to them to save their fights for after the November election, when Gonzales will be seeking reelection. Two other counties in the 23rd Congressional District represented by Gonzales recently censured the first-term congressman.
“What we’re doing here is trying to shoot ourselves in the foot,” former U.S. Rep. Quico Canseco told executive committee members gathered Tuesday night at the headquarters of the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association.
“I’m for telling these guys that they’re going off the reservation,” Canseco said of Cornyn and Gonzales. “But the important thing is that it’s going to hurt our candidates for county judge, county commissioner, and all down the road.”
Medina and Pecos counties have already publicly rebuked Gonzales, who represents the 23rd Congressional District that includes Uvalde. The first-term Republican also was the only Texas GOP congressman to support legislation protecting same-sex marriage rights.
“I take a county censure seriously because I value the feedback of my constituents,” Gonzales said in a statement earlier Tuesday. “That is why I hold a monthly call with local GOP leaders and schedule frequent town halls.”
His district, which wraps around Bexar County and stretches west to El Paso, was once considered a swing district but has been in Republic hands since 2014. It was redrawn to favor Republicans after Gonzales won it with 50.6% of the vote in 2020, but remains one of the most competitive seats in the state.
He is running for reelection against Democrat John Lira, as well as a conservative independent candidate, former Val Verde County Republican Chairman Frank Lopez Jr.
Gonzales had been a major funder of the local Republican Party, but campaigned against the new party chair, Jeff McManus, who unseated John Austin in a runoff earlier this year.
McManus sought to call for the censure vote Tuesday night, but members of the executive committee, which numbers more than 100 people, pointed to a state party rule that Gonzales and Cornyn had to be invited to defend themselves. McManus instead made a motion for a vote on whether he should invite them to a meeting to do so, and the motion failed on a voice vote.
Gonzales and Cornyn, who helped craft the gun safety bill, were the only two Texas Republicans to support it. It’s designed to increase the background checks on people under the age of 21 who seek to purchase a gun, as well as making it easier to take guns away from people who are threatening to hurt themselves or others — changes aimed at preventing tragedies like the one in Uvalde.
It passed the House in June on a 234-193 vote, with the help of 14 Republicans who joined Democrats.
Gina Castaneda, a precinct chair, distributed flyers defending Gonzales Tuesday night. She said what the congressman voted for was “predominantly a mental health bill” that had the support of local gun manufacturers.
“In the the aftermath of Uvalde, I voted for the Safer Communities Act because it would have prevented the shooting,” Gonzales said in his statement Tuesday. “I’d vote for it again today and twice on Sunday.”
