Gonzales, a three-term U.S. representative from Texas, will now have to defend his seat in a runoff election after Tuesday’s GOP primary vote left him short of the 50% threshold required to avoid the second round, The Associated Press reported. The outcome sets up a rematch against Brandon Herrera, who narrowly lost to Gonzales in the 2024 GOP primary by less than 400 votes.
The primary attention has been fixed on the congressman’s response to allegations that he had an affair with an aide, an issue that brought additional pressure from fellow House Republicans. The Associated Press said Gonzales entered the first major GOP primary of 2026 under scrutiny following published reports last month alleging explicit text messages between him and the former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles.
The Associated Press also described the basis for the allegations as reported by the San Antonio Express-News, which said it obtained text messages in which Santos-Aviles wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with Gonzales. The wire service added that it had not independently obtained copies of the messages, and it reported that an attorney for Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ husband, said the husband found out about the affair before Santos-Aviles’ death.
Gonzales has denied any plan to resign, according to The Associated Press. It also reported that Gonzales said in a social media post that he was being blackmailed and, in another post, suggested that he is the target of “coordinated political attacks.”
In Washington last week, Gonzales addressed the allegations and said, “There will be opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out,” adding, “What you’ve seen is not all the facts.” The Associated Press said the congressman is a father of six and previously won his seat in 2020 after retiring from a 20-year career in the U.S. Navy that included time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The AP reporting also placed Gonzales’ political foundation in the context of his district, describing it as spanning the U.S. border with Mexico and stretching from western San Antonio to El Paso. It said Gonzales’ 2020 victory beat Democratic expectations, with support that included what the wire described as President Donald Trump’s surprisingly strong performance in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande Valley.
The AP further reported that Donald Trump endorsed Gonzales in December and that last week Gonzales was among the Texas Republicans in attendance for Trump’s visit along the Texas coast. As the runoff approaches, Herrera’s candidacy is positioned as an alternative GOP path, with the Associated Press describing him as a gun manufacturer and YouTube gun-rights influencer.
Santos-Aviles, according to The Associated Press, 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. The Associated Press said it has not independently obtained copies of the text messages at the center of the affair allegations, leaving the dispute—at least in this reporting—tied to what other publications reported and to Gonzales’ denials.
In May 2026, voters will decide whether Gonzales can hold the seat in the rematch, or whether the runoff will shift the GOP nomination to Herrera amid continued debate over the congressman’s conduct and the evidence described in media reports.