Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas was censured Saturday by the state GOP for “for lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities,” the party announced.
The Texas Republican Party took issue with several House votes and stances by the second-term congressman, including his vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, his opposition to a GOP-led border security measure and the fact that he was the lone House Republican to vote against his conference’s rules package earlier this year.
Gonzales’ district – which stretches along the US-Mexico border between El Paso and San Antonio – is home to Uvalde, where a mass shooting at an elementary school last year killed 19 children and two teachers. After the shooting, Gonzales voted in favor of bipartisan gun-safety legislation – another vote the state GOP found fault with.
The censure vote passed with 57 members of the State Republican Executive Committee backing the motion, five voting against it and one abstaining.
The censure resolution was originally bought by the Republican Party in Medina County, which is in Gonzales’ district. Fifteen other local party organizations in his district passed concurring resolutions.
Gonzales was first elected in 2020 to succeed retiring Republican Will Hurd. He easily won election to a second term in his Hispanic-majority district last fall.
The only other time the Texas GOP has voted to censure a Republican official was in 2018, when Texas House Speaker Joe Straus was censured, according to the state party.
CNN has reached out to Gonzales’ office for comment.
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