Karen Gleason
United States District 23 Rep. Tony Gonzales says he will work with anyone in Washington, D.C., who can help his district.
Gonzales (R-San Antonio) was in Del Rio Thursday to open his local office, located at 712 E. Gibbs St.
After a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Gonzales’ local staff and representatives of the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Gonzales spoke about his harrowing experience defending the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives from angry rioters on Jan. 6.
Gonzales was one of several congressmen who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with members of the Capitol police as a rioting mob attempted to force its way into the House chambers.
Gonzales said as House members began their work that morning, he could feel the tension in the air.
“I served 20 years in the military. I served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on that day, you could feel the environment in the air, almost like when it’s about to rain, and you can smell in the air that it’s going to rain. That’s what it felt like,” Gonzales said in an interview with the 830 Times on Thursday.
“As things were escalating, and as the violent protesters were making their way through the Capitol and were making their way to the House chamber, a lot of the members were in there, and most of the members were trying to get out of there as fast as could be. There was only a couple of Capitol police that stayed behind, and a few of us said, ‘We’ve got to help them’,” the congressman added.
Gonzales said he, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and fellow Texas congressmen Troy Nehls, Ronny Jackson and Pat Fallon decided to stand against the mob with the Capitol police officers.
“We grabbed furniture, and we barricaded the door. We made makeshift batons out of pieces of furniture. We got ready for a fight. They weren’t coming through that door to talk,” Gonzales said, noting the standoff lasted 30 to 40 minutes.
The congressman roundly condemned the incident.
“Things like that should never happen at our Capitol, and we have to hold responsible the people who did that. More importantly, we have to calm everybody down, and we have to look into some of the things that got everyone upset. We’ve got to make sure that people believe in the elections, that voter integrity is important, but that’s not the way we solve our differences in America,” Gonzales said.
The congressman said he will continue working for the betterment of the 23rd District and the country.
“I love America, and I have served her my entire adult life. Yes, I have my political beliefs, and people all have different beliefs. I’m not looking to create rhetoric. I’m not looking for division. There’s enough of that,” he said.
“I’m looking for things that we can work together on for the betterment of the district, of the state, of the country, and there’s plenty of things to work on. We’ve got this virus we’ve got to get through. We’ve got to reopen our economy safely. There’s a laundry list of issues that we’ve got to tackle, but it’s really about this: Are you a lawmaker who wants to go up there and throw bombs or are you a lawmaker who wants to go up there and solve problems? I want to solve problems, and I will work with anybody who wants to do the same,” Gonzales said.
