Brandon Herrera, a Texas Republican running for Congress and an online influencer, is facing scrutiny over his campaign-trail boasts that he is a millionaire — claims his hometown newspaper says lack documentation.

With the affordability crisis ranked among the top concerns for voters, Herrera has spent much of his campaign touting his wealth. According to The San Antonio Express-News, the Republican has produced nothing to substantiate the claim.

Members of the U.S. House earn a salary of roughly $174,000, and Herrera complained that taking the job would amount to "a 90+ percent pay cut" for him.

Campaign manager Kimmie Gonzalez told Punchbowl News that the staff was "working to submit a revised financial disclosure report within the coming weeks." She said the filing was delayed because Herrera initially had a friend prepare it but later needed someone with more experience "for this level of reporting." A Washington, D.C. firm has since been hired.

"The updated report will be out soon. I don't have a date. I don't have a timeline, but it will be out soon," Gonzalez said.

Those filings are not optional paperwork. Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, House candidates are required to disclose income, assets and liabilities to the Clerk of the House, generally within 30 days of becoming a candidate and annually by May 15, and the House Ethics Committee can impose a $200 fee for late filings. Once submitted, the reports become public records, letting voters compare a candidate's campaign-trail claims about wealth against documented figures.

The Express-News reported that "Democrats see an opportunity to flip the seat," citing Herrera's extremist past and scores of videos to prove it. The seat at stake, Texas's 23rd Congressional District, stretches from the San Antonio area hundreds of miles west along the U.S.-Mexico border toward El Paso and has long been one of the state's most competitive House districts.

The newspaper cited law professor Doug Spencer, who specializes in campaign finance regulation, saying it is rare for a candidate's previous filings to be questioned once they take office. When mistakes are made, a new filing is typically submitted. Herrera's case is unusual in that it appears to go beyond "a quick clerical error," the report said.

"It's really an error that highlights the very nature of who this candidate is," Spencer explained. "Is this candidate a truth-teller or not? Is this candidate wealthy or not?"

In the filing, Herrera listed his company, "The AK Guy, Inc.," as his main source of income. That company also makes "Kalashnikov-style firearms," the report noted. Yet Herrera has said, "Ninety-nine percent of my income comes from other sources."

Those sources included "compensation in excess of $5,000 paid by one source" from seven different entities, among them AdSense, the payment system for YouTube creators. His business interests extend beyond YouTube and firearms to include his podcast, a streaming service called Pepperbox TV, a merchandise retailer and an energy drink company.

Herrera has drawn controversy after videos surfaced exposing his controversial language.

Herrera first challenged Gonzales in 2024, forcing the incumbent into a runoff before losing the second-round contest. "A self-described gun-rights absolutist and YouTuber known for his inflammatory humor, Mr. Herrera, 30, was initially opposed this year by both Mr. Johnson and President Trump as he challenged the district's Republican incumbent, Tony Gonzales, for a second straight time," The New York Times' Bayliss Wagner reported on Sunday. "Mr. Gonzales and his allies spent millions painting Mr. Herrera as extreme, highlighting old videos in which he made wildly offensive jokes like saying that a Nazi-era submachine gun was 'the original ghetto blaster' and 'Hitler's street sweeper.'"