John Oliver Targets Texas House Candidate Brandon Herrera for Gun Videos

Comedian John Oliver turned his attention to San Antonio politics on Monday, mocking Republican Brandon Herrera for his provocative social media history. The segment aired on the HBO show Last Week Tonight and centered on Herrera’s online persona as a gun enthusiast.

Oliver played a clip from Herrera’s YouTube channel where the candidate reviews a German World War II-era MP 40 submachine gun. In the footage, Herrera describes the weapon as the original ghetto blaster and Hitler’s stress sweeper. Oliver commented that the Republican Party has grown comfortable with candidates who use Nazi-adjacent language.

The video also features Herrera and an associate goose-stepping to a song associated with the Nazi era. Goose-step marching was abolished during the 1990 German reunification due to its heavy association with the regime.

Herrera runs for the U.S. House seat in Texas’ 23rd District. He is known to supporters as the AK Guy and boasts more than 4.3 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, which primarily features gun reviews. The candidate is a Second Amendment advocate who has faced scrutiny for various remarks and videos over the years.

Critics have pointed to a podcast revelation where Herrera stated he owns an original copy of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s manifesto. He has also faced backlash for degrading comments about overweight women, jokes about veteran suicides, and referring to children as cum trophies. His opponent, Democrat Katy Padilla Stout, highlighted a video of Herrera firing bullets into cutouts of children near the site of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde.

Stout, a former public school teacher, has focused her campaign on the affordability crisis and the shortcomings of Gov. Greg Abbott’s voucher scheme. The midterm race is closely watched as early voting continues through Oct. 30. Polls reopen on Election Day, Nov. 3, for the final count.