Keith Barton
Keith Barton (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 23rd Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the Republican primary on March 3, 2026.[source]
Barton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Keith Barton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1998 to 2017. He earned a high school diploma from Colony High School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in 2004. His career experience includes working as a manager.[1]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the March 3 Republican primary for Texas' 23rd Congressional District as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Incumbent Tony Gonzales (R), Keith Barton (R), Francisco Canseco (R), and Brandon Herrera (R) are running in the Republican primary for Texas' 23rd Congressional District on March 3, 2026. The filing deadline was December 8, 2025. As of January 2026, Gonzales and Herrera led in fundraising and local media attention.[2]
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."[3]
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."[4] 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.[5][6][7] President Donald Trump (R) endorsed Gonzales in 2026 after not endorsing him in either 2024 or 2022.[8]
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.[9][10] 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."[11]
As of January 2026, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated 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 found that "Rep. Tony Gonzales’s 23rd District remains Solid Republican."[12]
Elections
2026
See also: Texas' 23rd Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. House Texas District 23
Patti Hale Ashe (Independent) and Veronica Williams (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 23 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Patti Hale Ashe (Independent) | ||
 | Veronica Williams (Independent) | |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 23
Gretel Marysdatter Enck (D), Santos Limon (D), Bruce Richardson (D), and Katy Padilla Stout (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 23 on March 3, 2026.
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Gregory Lopez (D)
- Peter White (D)
Republican primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 23
Incumbent Tony Gonzales (R), Keith Barton (R), Francisco Canseco (R), and Brandon Herrera (R) are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 23 on March 3, 2026.
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Gonzales | Republican Party | $1,949,599 | $1,962,043 | $1,446,543 | As of February 11, 2026 |
| Keith Barton | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Francisco Canseco | Republican Party | $80,050 | $6,250 | $201,621 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Brandon Herrera | Republican Party | $868,569 | $866,743 | $9,867 | As of February 11, 2026 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[13][14][15]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Keith Barton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Barton's responses.
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- I am not a career politician. I am an operator. I focus on fixing root causes, not applying short-term band-aids. Whether it is border security, energy, or infrastructure, my approach is disciplined, realistic, and focused on outcomes that actually improve lives in Texas’s 23rd District.
- Border security requires defense in depth and support for border communities. That means strong enforcement, consistent patrols, technology, and treating border towns as disaster-impacted areas that need real economic investment, workforce development, and energy-driven growth.
- My loyalty is to the people of District 23, not party leadership or special interests. I believe in conservative principles, fiscal responsibility, and bipartisan problem solving when it delivers results. My job is to represent the district, ask hard questions, and fight for solutions that last.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Barton submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on January 19, 2026.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 19, 2026
- ↑ Austin American-Statesman, "Trump endorses Tony Gonzales in GOP rematch against Brandon Herrera," December 19, 2025
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Gun rights YouTuber Brandon Herrera to challenge U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales again in GOP primary," August 11, 2025
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales draws GOP primary challenge from Cotulla rancher Susan Storey Rubio," June 12, 2025
- ↑ Tony Gonzales campaign website, "Law Enforcement Backs Tony Gonzales," September 30, 2025
- ↑ Tony Gonzales campaign website, "MAJOR Screwworm Update," June 18, 2025
- ↑ Tony Gonzales campaign website, "Issues," accessed October 10, 2025
- ↑ X.com, "Gabby Birenbaum on December 18, 2025," accessed December 19, 2025
- ↑ Brandon Herrera campaign website, "Home page," accessed October 10, 2025
- ↑ The AK Guy, "Home page," accessed October 10, 2025
- ↑ YouTube, "Brandon Herrera on YouTube - I'm Running for Congress," August 9, 2025
- ↑ Inside Elections, "A Detailed Analysis of Texas’ New Congressional Map," August 27, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
