In Texas, two Republicans who have faced condemnations from the Jewish community could be making comebacks in this year’s Republican congressional primaries.

Social media influencer and gun activist Brandon Herrera is making a second attempt to take down Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), after losing to the congressman by less than 400 votes in 2024 in the 23rd Congressional District, which runs along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Herrera attracted controversy and criticism for videos he posted on YouTube featuring imagery, music and jokes about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, and was active for years in a Sons of Confederate Veterans group in North Carolina. He also pledged to support ending U.S. foreign aid, including to Israel.

The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition launched substantial ad campaigns against Herrera in 2024, highlighting his Nazi-related videos.

Gonzales is currently under scrutiny after a former staffer died by suicide after setting herself on fire. The staffer and Gonzales had allegedly engaged in an extramarital affair, something both Gonzales and the woman’s family deny.

Gonzales has a sizable lead in fundraising with $1.5 million raised and $2.5 million on hand, to Herrera’s $307,000.

Another candidate, rancher Susan Storey Rubio, also announced plans to challenge Gonzales from his right. But it’s unclear if she is still running for the seat — her campaign’s social media pages are unavailable and she refunded campaign donations she had received, as well as repaid much of a loan she made to her campaign. Her campaign account had no money remaining and $163,000 in debt listed as of last month.

Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas Republican strategist, said that the race is difficult to predict, but that it’s likely “going to be a good tough close race.” Both candidates, he said, have likely spent the time since their last faceoff building up their local bases of support to prepare for this rematch.

For insurgents like Herrera, Steinhauser said, a first race can give them time to build up a local base of support and to show that they have a real shot at winning. He said that Gonzales, too, has also likely been working to address some of the issues that drove voters’ opposition in the past race.

Former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is rumored to be planning a second attempt at a political comeback; he served one term from 1995 to 1997, narrowly beating a Democratic incumbent, before losing reelection. He ran and was elected again in 2013 in a newly created district. In 2015, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in a primary against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

After leaving Congress, he was indicted and convicted on felony charges of financial misconduct, money laundering and fraud, using $1.25 million from political donors to pay for personal expenses. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but his sentence was commuted after just two years by President Donald Trump at the tail end of his first term in office.

During his first term in Congress, Stockman faced condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League for appearing on a radio show run by a Holocaust-denying conspiracy group, the Liberty Lobby. In an interview, Stockman denied that the show was antisemitic.

“They said that because they talk against ‘international bankers’ that means they’re against Jewish folks,” he said at the time. “The largest banks today are not American. I know that most of them are Japanese now.” 

He also defended himself by saying that he had “a Christian Jewish person” working in his office. Stockman asked staff in his congressional office to participate in a daily Christian prayer service.

Stockman, who at the time was known as a generally bizarre and fringe figure, also pushed conspiracy theories about the 1993 Waco siege and maintained ties to militia groups.

Stockman did cast himself as a supporter of Israel during his time in Congress — at one point memorably vanishing for weeks on what was later revealed to be a delegation trip to Israel and Egypt — sponsoring legislation cutting off support for organizations that exclude Israeli organizations in the West Bank and speaking at pro-Israel events in support of the Jewish state. He also condemned antisemitic activity in Armenia.

Stockman has yet to declare his candidacy, but was reportedly interested in pursuing the Houston-area 9th Congressional District that was revamped as a result of the GOP’s partisan redistricting push to become a solidly conservative seat.

But after a federal court ruled this month that Texas cannot use its new maps, ordering the state to stick with the congressional lines it has had since 2021, Stockman’s fate is uncertain. The redistricting ruling was appealed, with the Supreme Court temporarily ordering the state to use its 2025 map for now. adding uncertainty to what the Texas map will look like for the 2026 midterms. 

Stockman could not be reached for comment.

Steinhauser said he hasn’t heard any particular chatter about Stockman’s plans.

“Given the district [was] going to be … a very conservative area, it certainly would look attractive to him or anyone else looking to run,” Steinhauser said. He said Stockman could point to the prosecution and Trump’s pardon to frame himself as a victim of a weaponized political prosecution, as Trump has done, telling voters, “they came after me just like they came after the president.”

But Steinhauser also said it’s still a relatively open race and that various others could still join.