U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales on Tuesday resisted calls from fellow House Republicans to resign over allegations that he had an affair with a former staffer, after the staffer later died following an apparent self-immolation in Texas. In a brief exchange with reporters, Gonzales said he would not step down, arguing that more information would come out.
A group of conservative members of the House Republican conference — including Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — demanded that Gonzales leave office immediately. Massie also used social media to call for a change, questioning where other Republicans stood in the face of similar allegations.
Speaker Mike Johnson said he would talk to Gonzales on Tuesday and repeated that the accusations “must be taken seriously.” Johnson said Monday that lawmakers have to “allow the investigation to play out and all the facts to come out,” adding that if an accusation were treated as a “litmus” for service in the House, “a lot of people would have to resign or be removed or expelled from Congress,” according to the speaker’s remarks.
Gonzales told reporters that he will not resign and said, “There will be opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out.” He added, “What you’ve seen is not all the facts,” signaling that he disputes the completeness of what has been reported publicly so far.
Nancy Mace said Tuesday that she has introduced a resolution that would force the House Ethics Commission to publicly release its reports and records of allegations of sexual harassment against members of Congress. The push adds to the pressure on the ethics process as Gonzales faces a competitive Republican primary contest in Texas on March 3, when he is seeking reelection.
The allegations trace back to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News, which said last week it obtained text messages in which former staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with the lawmaker. The Associated Press said it has not independently obtained copies of the messages, and Gonzales has not conceded wrongdoing in the responses described in the AP report.
Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home, and the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death a suicide by self-immolation. An attorney for Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, said the husband learned about the alleged affair before her death.
In separate statements, Gonzales has said on social media that he was being blackmailed, and he later suggested he was the target of “coordinated political attacks.” The allegation of blackmail, according to the AP report, is based on an email from Santos-Aviles’ husband’s attorney, Robert Barrera, discussing a possible lawsuit against the lawmaker and a potential settlement with a nondisclosure agreement, with the email saying the maximum recoverable amount is $300,000.
Barrera has said he was not trying to blackmail Gonzales and called the accusation an attempt by the congressman to portray himself as a political victim. Gonzales’ district runs from San Antonio to El Paso and along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the AP report said he and his wife have six children.
Gonzales’ main primary opponent is Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun-rights influencer known as “the AK Guy” on YouTube, where his channel has nearly 4.2 million subscribers. Herrera has said Gonzales should resign, and Gonzales defeated him by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 Republican runoff.
Gonzales also argued that stepping down would affect the House GOP’s majority, leaving Republicans with a 217-214 edge until March, when the first of three special elections to fill vacancies is set in Georgia. The AP report also said President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzales for reelection in December.