A lawyer representing President Donald Trump sent Republican candidate Brandon Herrera a cease-and-desist letter last month after Herrera used a Photoshopped image of him and Trump for his 23rd Congressional District campaign. This Texas district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and became more solidly Republican due to last summer’s mid-decade redistricting.

Herrera does not officially have Trump's support but says his campaign now uses a 2016 picture of him with the president.

“At the end of the day, I think the voters in the district want somebody who's going to support his agenda," Herrera said. "So, that's the message we're trying to convey."

Trump endorsed incumbent U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales in the competitive Republican primary rematch for the district.

“The results speak for themselves and have earned him President Trump’s complete and total endorsement," a campaign spokesperson for Gonzales said of the representative. "Meanwhile, Brandon Herrera thinks he can fool people on TV by posing next to President Trump and making false associations — all this after saying President Trump ‘messed up a lot of things,’ claiming he couldn’t beat Joe Biden, insulting the President’s family, and not doing a single thing to advance the President’s agenda."

Herrera writes off the endorsement as "inside baseball."

“That's pretty normal because at this point, there's such a tight margin in the House and the Senate,” Herrera said.

In the 2024 Republican primary, Gonzales narrowly beat Herrera by less than 400 votes. Herrera, a gun rights activist and Youtuber, is challenging Gonzales again. Gonzales declined an interview to talk about his campaign.

“I think somebody has to beat this guy or else he's going to continue to be wishy-washy for as long as he can keep that seat and keep making money,” Herrera said.

Gonzales is a more moderate Republican known to occasionally split with the president on issues.

In his campaign for reelection, Gonzales is prioritizing creating economic opportunity for Texans, labeling Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and implementing tougher penalties on drug dealers and human smugglers. He has faced attacks over the death of his congressional staffer by suicide and criticism for supporting a bipartisan gun safety bill following the Uvalde school shooting in his district.

Trump lawyer sent cease and desist to Republican candidate Brandon Herrera