Incumbent Tony Gonzales (R), Brandon Herrera (R), and Susan Storey Rubio (R) are running in the Republican primary for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District on March 3, 2026. The filing deadline is December 8, 2025.

This is a rematch of the 2024 primary. Gonzales defeated Herrera 50.6%–49.4% in the runoff after neither candidate won a majority in the primary. The Texas Tribune‘s Owen Dahlkamp described the 2026 primary as “yet another proxy war between the more centrist Gonzales and the right-wing, fire-breather Herrera.”

Gonzales was first elected to the House in 2020. The Texas Tribune‘s Renzo Downey described Gonzales as “a centrist from San Antonio and U.S. Navy veteran.” Gonzales highlighted the following accomplishments and says he has delivered for the district during his three terms in office: securing funding to hire more than 100 police officers in the district, opening a South Texas facility for treating the screwworm livestock parasite, and appropriating more than $4.7 billion in funding for healthcare for veterans.

Herrera describes himself as “an entrepreneur, Second Amendment activist, and social media personality” who owns a firearms manufacturing company (The AK Guy) and operates a firearms-related YouTube channel. In his 2026 campaign kickoff, Herrera said, “It started to eat at me. Those things that I didn’t like about D.C., about my congressman, they didn’t change…as much as it’s more comfortable to just look the other way, I can’t bow out of a fight if I know I can make a difference. It’s just not how I’m wired.”

Rubio is the owner and operator of a ranch. Rubio says she is “a woman of faith and a bold conservative advocate…raised with the tireless work ethic that characterizes the people of this district.” In her campaign kickoff video, Rubio said, “Your representative should represent you, not the D.C. establishment. Tony Gonzales is a spineless moderate who didn’t do a thing to stand up to Joe Biden and the Democrats and hasn’t lifted a finger to help President Trump.”

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball each rate the general election Safe/Solid Republican. In the 2024 election, Gonzales defeated Santos Limon (D) 62.3%–32.7%. An Inside Elections analysis of the August 2025 redistricting in Texas calculated that President Donald Trump (R) won the 2024 presidential election in the new 2026 district lines by 15 percentage points, down from the 16 percentage points under the district’s 2024 lines.