The Republican Jewish Coalition announced on Friday that it’s beginning an ad campaign opposing Brandon Herrera, the right-wing social media influencer challenging Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) in Texas’ May 28 primary runoff.

RJC’s $400,000 ad buy follows an investment earlier this week by AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, also opposing Herrera, and comes amid an unusually aggressive season of primary involvement by RJC.

This year, RJC took out ads opposing former Rep. John Hostettler’s (R-IN) bid to return to Congress, is working to unseat House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) — who has endorsed Herrera — and has defended other incumbent Republicans from challengers with problematic records on foreign aid and antisemitism. RJC had last run primary ads in 2020.

RJC’s national chairman, Norm Coleman, and CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement that Gonzales “has gone to bat for critical joint U.S.-Israel missile defense programs, and is a stalwart defender of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” also noting that he’s a leader of the Latino-Jewish Caucus and a bipartisan veterans caucus.

“We need to keep Tony Gonzales working for the causes we care about in Congress,” they said. “His opponent, Brandon Herrera, is a goose-stepping extremist who pals around with online Nazis, and has promised to join the ‘chaos caucus’ that has frustrated the efforts of the GOP majority in the House to pass essential legislation.”

The comments about Hererra reference a video about Nazi guns in which Herrera performed the Nazi military march, in addition to making a series of jokes about the Nazis and the Holocaust and using related music and imagery. The congressional candidate has also said he opposes further foreign aid.

The RJC ad highlights that Herrera was a North Carolina resident before launching his congressional bid in Texas’ 23rd District, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso, and highlights comments he made on a podcast joking about suicide by veterans. 

“Brandon, you’re no veteran, veterans are brave warriors,” the ad’s narrator states. “You’re just a fool from North Carolina… Fools like Brandon Herrera who mock veterans do not belong in Congress, or Texas.”

The advertisement features clips from Herrera’s Nazi guns video, including the goose-stepping clip.

UDP’s advertising also focuses on the veteran suicide comments, which the Gonzales campaign has likewise attacked.

“As we’ve said all cycle: if you stand against the Jewish community, if you stand against America’s strategic ally Israel, the RJC will work to defeat you,” Coleman and Brooks said.