Brandon Herrera, the Republican running for Congress in South Texas's 23rd District, has a new clip making the rounds. This one is a racist joke about Chinese people eating cats.
On an episode of The Josie Show that aired last October, host Josie Glabach told Herrera she had adopted a kitten and agreed to take its three siblings after learning they were on a kill list. Herrera said he hates seeing animals put down for no reason. Then he offered an alternative:
"...bare minimum, they could at least collaborate with the local Chinese restaurant ... Don't let it go to waste."
(The Current and PatriotTakes transcribe the clip slightly differently; that is the wording both share.)
The San Antonio Current reported the remark this week after the GOP watchdog account PatriotTakes posted the clip. You can hear it on the episode itself.
An old, ugly trope
The joke isn't random. As the Current noted, it plays on a racist trope that Asian immigrants eat pets — and Herrera reached for it to get a laugh.
It's the same smear aimed at a different group of immigrants in 2024, when Trump repeated the false claim during a debate that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. PBS NewsHour reported that city officials said there were no credible reports of it happening.
This is a pattern, not a slip
The kitten line is one entry in a long list. The Current's own reporting has documented Herrera mocking veteran suicides, calling children "cum trophies", and joking that a Nazi submachine gun was "the original ghetto blaster".
We've covered plenty of the rest:
- He filmed himself holding up his copy of Mein Kampf and said he'd read "a good chunk" of it.
- He compared women's weight to whales, elephants and nuclear bombs.
- He joined a podcast bit mocking people with Down syndrome.
None of this is a secret to Republican leaders. They spent 2024 calling him too extreme for Congress — and now Speaker Mike Johnson is raising money for him.
The Current's story carries no apology or response from Herrera on the kitten remark.
A tied race
This isn't a safe seat that a joke can't touch. A poll released this week by the Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC showed Herrera and Democrat Katy Padilla-Stout tied at 46% each, the Current reported, even though Trump carried the district by 15 points in 2024. Early voting runs through October 30, and Election Day is November 3.
In summary
Brandon Herrera, the Republican nominee in Texas's 23rd District, joked on a podcast that kittens facing euthanasia should be given to "the local Chinese restaurant" so they wouldn't "go to waste" — the racist pets-as-food smear that Trump aimed at Haitian immigrants in 2024. It adds to a record that includes mocking veteran suicides, waving Mein Kampf on camera and mocking people with Down syndrome, and the Current's story carries no apology.
