Brandon Herrera Controversy Texas

Brandon Herrera Joined a Podcast Bit Mocking People With Down Syndrome — and Said Any 20 Minutes of the Show 'Would Be a Career Killer'

A resurfaced 2024 podcast clip shows Brandon Herrera starting a joke about Tony Stark having Down syndrome and putting on a voice to mock disabled people. Two years later he hosted an 'Autism and Special Needs Forum' for his congressional campaign.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 16, 2026

Brandon Herrera Joined a Podcast Bit Mocking People With Down Syndrome — and Said Any 20 Minutes of the Show 'Would Be a Career Killer' — Photo: David Martin Davies / Texas Public Radio

Brandon Herrera, the Republican running in Texas's 23rd Congressional District, knew exactly how the show he was on would sound to voters. He said so, on the show.

"Any fucking 20 minute section of this show would be a career killer if I was still running," he said.

He was right about at least one section.

What's in the clip

MeidasTouch reported this week on an episode of the Painkiller Already podcast — episode 712, released August 10, 2024. That was after Herrera lost a Republican primary runoff and before he announced he was running again.

In the episode, the hosts turn to a joke about superheroes. Herrera starts the bit: "Yeah, what if Tony Stark had Down syndrome?"

From there, according to the report, the hosts build a routine around a version of the Iron Man character with Down syndrome, playing him as unintelligent and childlike. Herrera changes his voice to imitate people with Down syndrome, and does it again later in the segment, laughing along. A clip was posted on X by the account PatriotTakes on October 14.

He wasn't caught off guard. He started the bit.

Then came the special needs forum

Two years later, Herrera is the Republican nominee. In August his campaign advertised an "Autism and Special Needs Forum", inviting families to "bring your questions and concerns."

That's the same candidate who, on tape, thought the joke was people with Down syndrome.

A long list

This isn't one bad joke. It's how Herrera talks.

He said COVID "wasn't bad enough" because it didn't kill more fat people.
He called a child a "c*m trophy" to insult moms fighting gun violence.
He filmed himself holding up his copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf and said he'd read "a good chunk" of it.
He called Social Security "a joke" after his website promised to protect it.

Herrera himself said what the show was: a "career killer" if voters ever heard it.

What the clip shows

On a podcast released in August 2024, between his two runs for Congress, Brandon Herrera started a joke about Tony Stark having Down syndrome and put on a voice to mock people with the condition, then said any 20 minutes of the show "would be a career killer if I was still running." He is now the Republican nominee in Texas's 23rd District, and this August his campaign advertised an "Autism and Special Needs Forum."