After Admitting Affair With Staffer Who Died Tragically, Tony Gonzales Is Fighting for His Seat

As RedState reported in October, Regina Santos-Aviles, the regional district director for Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23), committed suicide by setting herself on fire. Allegations of an affair with the Congressman surfaced, but Gonzales and GOP House leadership never directly addressed these allegations, a concern given the razor-thin Republican majority.

With Regina Santos-Aviles' tragic death and rumors of an extramarital affair, Gonzales' reputation is in the crosshairs. Depending on how it develops, this also may compromise his congressional seat. With the Schumer shutdown, Texas redistricting, and the midterms looming, it's a less-than-opportune time to be under this type of microscope.

Congress Loves Transparency - Just Not the Bill to Release Its Sexual Misconduct Files

Sadly, the allegations have been proven true. In February, local outlet San Antonio Express-News exclusively obtained text messages that Regina Santos-Aviles sent to another Gonzales staffer with whom Santos-Aviles maintained a close friendship, detailing the affair.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales engaged in a romantic relationship with an aide who died last year by setting herself on fire outside her Uvalde home, according to a text message and people close to the aide and her family.
A former staffer in Gonzales' district office who worked closely with the aide, Regina Ann "Regi" Santos-Aviles, said she told him they had an affair in 2024, and that she spiraled into a depression after her husband discovered the relationship and Gonzales abruptly cut her off. He also shared with the San Antonio Express-News a screenshot of a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she acknowledged having an “affair with our boss.”
The staffer, who asked not to be named, citing a fear of retaliation, faulted Gonzales' office for failing to intervene, saying he warned the congressman's district director months before Santos-Aviles' death that he was concerned about her well-being. He described her as his “best friend” and said their families knew each other.

In the thick of a primary challenge for his seat, Gonzales only broke his silence on this terrible tragedy, not to corroborate or deny the affair, but to accuse his Republican opponent Brandon Herrera of politicizing the tragedy.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, blamed his GOP opponent Brandon Herrera for politicizing the death of his former staffer on Wednesday, a day after the San Antonio Express-News reported on a text message from the woman admitting to having an affair with Gonzales.
Gonzales declined to answer questions about the alleged affair, but he has previously dismissed the allegations as untrue.

Tuesday's Texas primary is done, with the TX-23 race deemed too close to call, forcing Gonzales into a May runoff with Herrera. Now that Gonzales is fighting for his seat on top of being under a House ethics probe into Santos-Aviles' death, the congressman went to radio host Joe Pagliarulo (JoePags) to confirm that he did indeed have an affair with his late staffer.

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales has admitted for the first time that he had a sexual relationship with his former staff member who killed herself last year.
[...]
“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions.”

Gonzales said all the "right" things: that his wife has forgiven him and that he asked God's forgiveness, yada, yada, yada. Gonzales cast aspersions on Santos-Aviles' ex-husband, saying he was only interested in collecting her death benefits. But when JoePags asked Gonzales directly about the text messages, he avoided a response by saying he would let the ethics investigation play out. When JoePags point-blank asked if he had anything to do with Santos-Aviles' terrible suicide by setting herself on fire, Gonzales said that he "had absolutely nothing to do with it," and claimed it was political intimidation, and a "coordinated attack" in order to suppress his ability to vote in favor of Trump's legislative agenda.

If this were a Democrat, we know he would be sailing into reelection without a beat. But Gonzales is a Republican, and in his pro-family, pro-community district, there's likely no coming back from this. Herrera won by less than two percentage points over Gonzales. However, there was a third candidate who took eight percent of that total vote. Now it is a two-man race, with an ethics probe and Gonzales confessing to the relationship.

Heading into the May runoff, Herrera is taking this opportunity to not just promote his candidacy, but to pour salt into Gonzales' self-inflicted wounds.

Faced with one of the most egregious scandals in DC history, House leadership, the White House, and Gonzales himself all agreed we would leave the decision up to the voters of Texas.

Last night, Texas made their voice heard.

For the first time in his career, Tony lost.

We won. pic.twitter.com/zbrzBfH8q5
— Brandon Herrera (@TheAKGuy) March 5, 2026

Herrera also intimates that this might not be the first time Gonzales has been in flagrante delicto during his three terms in office.

Hey Tony. Now that you’re in a truth telling mood and not lying anymore, and it was just a “lapse of judgement,” I had a question.

Was this the only affair you’ve had while in office?

Answer carefully.
— Brandon Herrera (@TheAKGuy) March 5, 2026

And two of Gonzales' female colleagues in the House are none too happy that he could skate on this, especially after a resolution to publicly release the sexual harassment violations of Congress members was voted down. To no one's surprise, Gonzales was a vote against.

Shame on every single one of you who voted to protect predators in Congress over the women they prey on. https://t.co/uFR2JcHEOi
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) March 5, 2026

The entire Texas delegation, as well as every single other Member of Congress, should be condemning a sitting Member of Congress asking for explicit photos of their staff. As a woman, this is really disgusting to see. Not to mention, it brings dishonor on the House of…
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) February 23, 2026

The entire Texas delegation, as well as every single other Member of Congress, should be condemning a sitting Member of Congress asking for explicit photos of their staff. As a woman, this is really disgusting to see. Not to mention, it brings dishonor on the House of Representatives. I am so sick of people not calling this crap out. Again, like I’ve said before, this is not the only case of this crap up here. @RepTonyGonzales, shame on you.

Thanks to this Gonzales mess, as well as the John Cornyn-Ken Paxton standoff, all eyes are once again on Texas.

Editor's Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.

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