NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A Texas Democratic congressional candidate’s campaign reported more than $4,300 in spending on cookies, Mexican restaurant purchases and beer and wine earlier this year, according to federal election records, drawing renewed attention after a heated debate in which she apologized for a remark about her Republican opponent “making fun of Nazis.”
Katy Padilla Stout, the Democrat nominee for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, reported expenditures totaling $4,338.14 across five transactions in March and April, according to spending details cited in an August report by RedState and records attributed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The reported purchases included $675 for cookies for a campaign event, $1,289.22 at Total Wine and $2,373.92 at Las Guitarras Cocina Mexicana.
SENATE REPUBLICAN SETTLES SIX-YEAR-OLD CAMPAIGN BILL AFTER BEING CALLED OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Texas Democratic congressional candidate Katy Padilla Stout holds a “Save Big Bend” community update at a Denny’s restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. She is running against Republican Brandon Herrera in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag)
The expenditures have also become a line of attack for Republican Brandon Herrera, whose campaign website showcases the cookie purchase and accuses Stout of using donor funds to pay for the treats.
According to the spending details, the campaign reported a $675 payment dated March 30 with the stated purpose “COOKIES FOR EVENT.” Herrera’s website identifies the payee as Denise Gamboa Zelle and categorizes the expense as a campaign event expenditure.
Additional transactions included $1,089.08 at Total Wine on April 21 and $200.14 the following day, both described as “BEER AND WINE.”
The campaign also reported payments of $2,027.52 and $346.40 to Las Guitarras Cocina Mexicana on April 27 and April 28, respectively, according to the transaction details.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Stout said the disbursements “were for campaign and fundraising events which were attended by our supporters.”
“Sugar cookies, particularly Texas-shaped ones, hold a special place in Texan culture,” she said. “We bought ours at a local bakery because we believe in supporting small businesses.”
SENATE HOPEFUL’S ‘TREADING WATER’ NARRATIVE CRUMBLES UNDER $500K CAMPAIGN PAYOUTS TO FAMILY
Texas Democratic congressional candidate Katy Padilla Stout holds a Save Big Bend community update at a Denny’s restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Padilla is running against Republican Brandon Herrera in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag)
The filings establish that the campaign reported the expenditures, but do not establish whether the purchases were improper, whether any were for personal use or how many people attended the associated events.
The spending has attracted criticism from Herrera’s campaign, which maintains an opposition website titled “The Real Katy Stout.”
Under a section labeled “Cookie gate,” the site highlights the $675 expenditure and displays the reported purpose, “COOKIES FOR EVENT.”
The website also criticizes Stout’s positions on immigration, taxes and other issues.
DEM SENATE NOMINEE APOLOGIZES TO JEWISH VOTERS AFTER ‘GENOCIDE’ REMARK SPARKED BACKLASH
Brandon Herrera, a Republican U.S. congressional candidate in Texas, arrives to speak during a campaign event at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The spending questions come as the two candidates compete for a congressional seat representing one of the country’s largest districts along the southern border. During Tuesday’s televised debate in San Antonio, Stout also drew attention for an unusual exchange involving Herrera’s online videos.
“He made millions of dollars after making jokes online, making fun of Nazis, making fun of all of these things that we know he does not need to be doing,” Stout said in a heated moment during the debate.
Herrera responded: “And here I thought making fun of Nazis was a good thing.”
Stout later apologized and clarified her criticism after closing remarks.
“I apologize, I did misspeak,” she said. “He chooses to goosestep on YouTube for clickbait and money so that he can promote that type of ideology. He chooses to shame women.”
The exchange was part of a debate hosted by WOAI/KABB, during which the congressional candidates also sparred over gun rights, immigration and costs of living.
Stout told Fox News Digital “mocking Nazis is fine, and that is not what I objected to, nor is that what my opponent does.”
“I object to content that trivializes veteran suicide, rape, child murder, women’s bodies, and the Holocaust, the type of content he churns out,” she added. “You can hear his disgusting commentary straight from his own mouth at HeReallySaidThat.com.
“Do I think he promotes Nazi imagery? Yes. In a video posted 5/24/22, he goose steps to ‘Erika,’ and touts an MP-40 machine gun. In another video posted 6/23/20, he said ‘for the fatherland’ before firing a Nazi-made STG 44, calling it ‘like a religious experience.’ Calling it a joke doesn’t change what it is: giving a platform to Nazi symbols and weaponry for clicks and money. In my view, the ‘I’m only joking’ defense is a familiar tactic among neo-Nazi and antisemitic content creators. His content has attracted bipartisan condemnation, including the Republican Jewish Coalition which called my opponent ‘a goose-stepping extremist who pals around with online Nazis.'”
Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera speaks during a campaign rally at the Constantino S Pizza restaurant on in Somerset, Texas on Feb. 26, 2026. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Stout, a former teacher and child welfare attorney, has emphasized affordability and corruption as central themes of her campaign.
Herrera, a firearms manufacturer and online personality who has re-coined “Let’s Go Brandon” as his campaign slogan, has campaigned on border law enforcement, tax reductions and Second Amendment protections.
The two are vying to replace former Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, who resigned earlier this year after acknowledging an affair with a staffer.
Texas’ 23rd Congressional District stretches from the San Antonio area toward El Paso and includes hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Early voting begins Oct. 19, with Election Day scheduled for Nov. 3.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The campaign for Brandon Herrera did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Vice President JD Vance spoke highly of the men and women who serve in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but he acknowledged that officers who “screw up” need to be held accountable by the Trump administration.
“Most of them are amazing people who are patriots and they want to do a good job protecting their country,” Vance told CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil in a pretaped interview. “Sometimes, you have some people who make mistakes. Sometimes, you have some people who really screw up. And obviously, we have a responsibility to prosecute, investigate when people do screw up.”
As the administration continues conducting immigration enforcement actions, there have been many reported instances in which ICE officers have used excessive force. In some cases, death has resulted.
U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by immigration officers in Minnesota earlier this year, and there have been other fatal incidents. In July, a Colombian man was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Maine.
There have also been nonfatal shootings. Last week, a Dominican immigrant was shot by an ICE officer in the Bronx while driving his child. After getting shot in the neck, he was promptly hospitalized and held in federal custody.
When Dokoupil pressed Vance on the “biggest mistakes” regarding ICE operations, the vice president did not give a direct response but said the administration has quietly investigated cases in which officers have been accused of misconduct.
“There are a number of cases where we’ve investigated and either provided further training or sometimes even provided disciplinary situations within ICE,” he said. “We don’t always advertise that stuff, as you know, Tony, because we believe that people have to be judged in a court of law and through a normal investigatory process.”
After fatally shooting Good in January, ICE officer Jonathan Ross was placed on administrative leave and later reassigned out of Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security has not said where Ross was relocated after Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) had reason to believe he was moved to her state. Ross is so far not facing either federal or state criminal charges.
VANCE VOWS TO HONOR DEMOCRATIC SUBPOENAS ON TRUMP OFFICIALS ‘SELLING ACCESS’ TO WHITE HOUSE
Vance sat down for the interview at a one-hour town hall event in Michigan this week. The full interview will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at 8 p.m. Saturday.
In a prior video clip from the interview, Vance said those caught “selling access” to the White House should be met with consequences after Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former U.S. ambassador to Greece, resigned over that very reason.
With every word, these leaders shed another shred of dignity. The latest to shrink was Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal.
Appearing on the Seattle-based radio show “Jake and Spike,” the head of Washington’s public school system made some remarks about the boys-in-girls-sports debate that seemed outlandish by even a politician’s standards.
The issue at hand was Initiative 638, a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Washington that, if passed, would keep biological males out of K-12 sports. Host Jake Skorheim brought up the situation in southern Washington, where members of the Camas High girls cross country team walked off the start line Tuesday in protest of having to run in the same event as a boy.
A CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER SWITCHED TO THE GIRLS TEAM MIDSEASON, PARENTS VOICE THEIR DISAPPROVAL AT MEET
A Camas High cross-country runner who switched from the boys team to the girls team midseason stands at the starting line of a girls’ race at the Nike Hole in the Wall XC Invitational. (OutKick)
Answered Reykdal: “Let’s face it, this is happening across the country, where we’ve empowered young people to make important decisions. And 99% of the time, they’re good friends and colleagues, and they respect their transgender colleagues. But some don’t agree with it, and that’s their right to express that.”
This doesn’t sound too objectionable on its face, but there did seem to be a subtle dig at the protesters. Reykdal said that 99% of young athletes are “good friends and colleagues” and that they “respect their transgender colleagues.” It’s almost as though he’s implying the 1% are disrespectful. No. Surely there are some girls out there who are OK with competing against biological boys. The fact that protesters have received backlash from various teammates proves as much. But just because other athletes aren’t going public with their disapproval doesn’t mean they like it. They just don’t want the smoke that comes with being outspoken.
Second — choosing not to compete against a trans athlete does not make one disrespectful toward the trans community. It is simply acknowledging an unmistakable biological advantage and highlighting the unfairness.
Reykdal continued: “The much larger issue here is: Can we accommodate 10, 12, 15 kids a year and make them feel included? Or do we have to go through an initiative process where every single girl has to prove, through one of three methods, that she’s a girl in order to participate?”
The term “inclusivity” has been co-opted to vilify anyone who opposes males in female sports. The truth is that sports at most levels are designed to be exclusive. Only a certain number of athletes make the team, or get to start, or reach the final heat, or get a scholarship. And those “10, 12 or 15 kids” often have great success. Last year, high school trans athletes won girls’ state track-and-field championships in Washington, Oregon and California. And at Camas, a biological male went from 76th in a boys JV race to first in a varsity girls meet.
Hence Skorheim’s next question.
“I hear what you’re saying, but specifically, I want to ask about this case in Camas. They’re racing against somebody who, earlier in the year, was 76th running for the boys cross-country team, who placed second here. Now, those girls had to forfeit because they had no chance of winning.”
Answered Reykdal: “Well, I raised two kids, and one of them was a daughter in sports. And my take is, you have a choice to make. You’re going to compete and do the best you can and embrace your colleagues, or you’re going to walk off and make a statement. And that’s okay, too.”
SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY OUTKICK NEWSLETTER
(From left to right) Female athletes Frances Staudt, Bailey Andersen, Sadie Sullivan, Kendall Kotzmacher and Alanna Smith stand behind emcee and podcast host Brandi Kruse at a Protecting Fairness in Girls’ Sports rally in Vancouver, Washington. (Derek Shook for OutKick)
I don’t want to put words in Reykdal’s mouth, but it almost sounds like he’s telling these girls to simply compete, do their best and accept the circumstances — regardless of whether those circumstances are fair. But would he say something similar about athletes competing against people on steroids? That they should just embrace their “colleagues.” Probably not. Again, this isn’t about discrimination or hate — it’s about fairness.
But Reykdal’s answer to the following question is much more egregious.
“If your daughter was running against a boy—an athlete who raced as a boy and was 76th, and then had to race against that same athlete on your team—does that seem like a fair situation to you?” asked Skorheim.
Answered Reykdal: “I don’t see it that way, Jake. I just don’t. These are young, developing people whose brains aren’t going to fully develop until they’re 25.”
Excuse me?
Sorry, kids, we don’t owe you fairness because your brains aren’t fully developed. And while we’re at it, we can shortchange college athletes because, unless they’re at BYU, they’re all under 25 as well.
I’ve seen people try to dismiss this issue with an arsenal of arguments — that I-638 proponents are bigoted, that trans athletes are rare or that proving one’s gender will require “invasive genital inspections” (untrue). But their brains aren’t fully developed is a new one.
Again, you won’t see politicians bluntly say that it’s OK to have boys compete against girls. That’s a losing argument. So instead, you get mental gymnastics worthy of the all-around gold.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Sorry, but with answers like these — you have to wonder whose brains are truly undeveloped.