AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas Republican who survived a primary assault from his own party’s right wing said Thursday that the GOP is on track to lose the House in November.
“What’s frustrating me is I firmly believe that House Republicans are going to lose the majority — and we’re going to lose it because of ourselves,” Rep. Tony Gonzales told attendees at the Texas Tribune Festival.
In his comments, Gonzales attacked a culture of blame that he said had taken over both parties in the House — a body he said has become trapped in a cycle of oppositional oversight hearings of whichever party was in power.
Gonzales faced censure from the state Republican Party for voting in favor of legislation that promoted gun safety and same-sex marriage protections.
“It's not rocket science here. You know the economy, it's really real. I mean, more and more middle-class Americans are falling further and further behind in access to quality health care.
“Are we talking about this? Are we talking about some of these kind of kitchen table issues? No — it's all about who we're going to impeach.”
Among both parties, he said, the attitude in the chamber was, “It’s someone else’s fault. … I get that part of our job is oversight — but it’s not the entire job.” He added that “it's Congress's job to deliver for the people. And I think we have we certainly failed in the 118th Congress.
“This is why I think it's so important for the House to lead,” he said. “Let's be truthful with what happens. Let's have these conversations — instead of just blaming somebody else. I think there are dark times ahead, and I think we need to have a steady hand where people can bring us together and focus on delivering real results.”
A similar failure, Gonzales argued, had kept Texas Democrats from turning their ever-increasing share of the Texas electoral vote into a breakthrough victory.
“Texas Democrats are failing to deliver the message,” he said. "They are stuck in all-or-nothing, and guess what? They're getting nothing.”
“That works out well for Republicans,” he said, because state Democrats “haven't evolved into going, ‘How do I win a race? How do I deliver a message for the general population, and not just my base?’
“And anytime you get stuck in that, you're going to lose,” he added.
Gonzales also defended his past criticism of the far-right faction in the House, which backed his primary challenger in a race that ended up costing his campaign $10 million.
Gonzales told CNN’s “State of the Union” in April that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) “paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties. [Rep.] Bob Good (R-Va.) endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi.”
"These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime," he said at the time.
Republicans, Gonzales said Thursday, need to ask themselves if “we’re going to be the party that delivers for real people. Are we going to have these conservative values that make people's lives better? Or are we going to be the party of rhetoric?”
“One of the things that I hate hearing is when folks say, you know, the party left me ... even on the Democratic side, where I hear this all the time.”
Instead, he said, it’s important for members of a party to tend to their own house.
“As a Republican, I focus on delivering real results. The truth hurts. Sometimes the truth is painful, but I think it's important that we stop blinding people and deliver on this.
“I've been harsh with some of my colleagues. Guess what? Man, the House is a rough and rowdy place. You better put your mouthpiece in and go to work."
