# Vicente Gonzalez (politician)

Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (/vɪˈsɛnteɪ/; born September 4, 1967) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 34th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented Texas's 15th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. Gonzalez's South Texas district stretches from the Mexican border in Brownsville to Corpus Christi along the Gulf Coast. Considered a centrist Democrat, Gonzalez serves as the co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition.

## Early life and education

Gonzalez was born on September 4, 1967, in Corpus Christi, Texas. His father was a merchant seaman who served in the Korean War. His mother was born and raised in Mexico. He went to Roman Catholic School in Corpus Christi for part of his childhood. In junior year, he dropped out of high school but later earned his high school equivalency (GED) certificate in 1985.
Gonzalez afterwards enrolled at Del Mar College, obtaining an associate degree in banking and finance in 1990. He continued his education at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University on the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation business administration in 1992.
In 1996, Gonzalez received a Juris Doctor degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. During law school, Gonzalez interned for Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz. The following year, he established his law practice, V. Gonzalez & Associates.

## U.S. House of Representatives
### Elections
#### 2016

Gonzalez, a political newcomer, announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in Texas's 15th congressional district in 2016 following the retirement of incumbent Rubén Hinojosa. He secured the Democratic nomination by defeating Sonny Palacios in a runoff election. In the November general election, Gonzalez won with 57.3% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee Tim Westley, who received 37.7%.

#### 2018

Gonzalez sought reelection in 2018 and faced a rematch against Republican Tim Westley. He won a second term with 59.7% of the vote to Westley's 38.7%.

#### 2020

In 2020, Gonzalez's seat became unexpectedly competitive. He faced Republican challenger Monica De La Cruz and secured reelection by a much narrower margin than in his previous campaigns, winning with 50.5% of the vote to De La Cruz's 47.6%.

#### 2022

Following Texas’s redistricting based on the 2020 census, Gonzalez announced in November 2021 that he would seek reelection in the newly redrawn 34th congressional district. The 15th district, which he previously represented, had become more favorable to Republicans, while the neighboring 34th became more Democratic-leaning. The Texas legislature also placed Gonzalez’s residence within the 34th district’s boundaries. The incumbent representative, Filemon Vela Jr., had previously announced that he would not seek reelection and endorsed Gonzalez regardless of which district he chose to run in.
Gonzalez secured the Democratic nomination in the March 2022 primary, while Republicans nominated Mayra Flores. Soon after, Vela resigned from Congress on March 31, triggering a special election to fill the remainder of his term under the district’s previous, more competitive boundaries. Gonzalez declined to run in the special election and instead endorsed Democrat Dan Sanchez. Flores, however, entered the race and won the June 14 special election with 50.9% of the vote to Sanchez’s 43.4%, briefly flipping the seat for Republicans. Gonzalez and Flores then faced each other in the regular November 8 general election, where Gonzalez won and reclaimed the seat for the Democrats. In the same election cycle, Gonzalez’s 2020 opponent, Monica De La Cruz, ran in and won the redrawn 15th district, making her his successor in that district.
During the campaign, a blogger who received campaign funds from Gonzalez lobbed racist attacks at Flores, calling her "Miss Frijoles" and "Miss Enchiladas". He accused her of "playing the race card" and called her a "cotton pickin' liar" for having worked in cotton fields with her immigrant parents as a child. Gonzalez said he had never read the blog and was unaware of the blogger's racist commentary, and committed not to give any more campaign money to the blog.

#### 2024

Gonzalez was re-elected in 2024. He faced no opposition in the Democratic primary. He ran against Republican nominee Mayra Flores in the November 2024 general election in a rematch of their 2022 contest.
Before the Republican primary election, Gonzalez' campaign targeted the weaker primary candidate, Greg Kunkle, in hopes he would become the nominee and make Gonzalez' path to re-election easier.
During the campaign, Gonzalez compared Hispanic Trump supporters to "Jews for Hitler," prompting criticism from Republicans in his mostly Hispanic South Texas district. Gonzalez stood by his comments saying, "I don’t understand how Mexican Americans can vote for Trump. It’s clearly a vote against self interest. And yes it would be like the Jewish community voting for Hitler before the atrocities he caused. That would never happen. And Latinos need [to] wake up and see a tyrant on the horizon."

### Tenure

Gonzalez was sworn into office on January 3, 2017. In his first year in Congress, he introduced the Repatriate Our Patriots Act, which would have allowed U.S. military veterans who are not citizens—and who had been deported for certain nonviolent offenses—to return to the United States. In January 2019, Gonzalez joined fellow members of the Problem Solvers Caucus in meeting with President Donald Trump in an effort to resolve the 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, although the effort did not succeed. In January 2020, Gonzalez received the Order of the Quetzal.
During subsequent sessions, Gonzalez continued to work across party lines on certain issues. In August 2021, he was among a group of conservative Democrats, known as "The Unbreakable Nine," who opposed supporting the Biden administration's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package unless the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed. In July 2022, he joined the Republicans and four other Democrats in voting against a bill to ban assault weapons. In September 2022, Gonzalez introduced the Safe Zones Act, which proposed that the United States Department of State establish safe zones where individuals could apply for asylum. These safe zones would accept applications from nationals of the country where the zone is located or from neighboring countries. The Lugar Center later ranked him among the top 50 most bipartisan members of Congress during the 118th Congress session.
During the 2024 presidential election, Gonzalez aired television advertisements in his district opposing the participation of trans women in women's sports. After the election, he criticized Democrats for being "lazy" and "out of touch" on abortion issues and urged the party to moderate its stance on transgender policies. In 2025, he was one of two House Democrats, along with Henry Cuellar, to vote in favor of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which seeks to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports at federally funded educational institutions. Later that year, Gonzalez was among 46 House Democrats who joined Republicans in supporting the Laken Riley Act.

### Committee assignments

For the 119th Congress:
* Committee on Financial Services
** Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets
** Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions

### Caucus memberships

Gonzalez's caucus memberships include:
* Blue Dog Coalition (co-chair)
* New Democrat Coalition
* Congressional Hispanic Caucus
* Congressional Oil & Gas Caucus (chair)
* Critical Minerals Caucus (co-chair)

## Personal life

Gonzalez is married to Lorena, a former teacher and school administrator. They live in McAllen, Texas.
He is Roman Catholic.