US Congressman Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, has admitted to having an extramarital affair with an aide, after previously denying the relationship. The married father of six described the relationship with married staff member Regina Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide last year, as a "mistake" and a "lapse in judgement". The 45-year-old lawmaker told a podcast, "I take full responsibility for my actions," marking a reversal from his earlier dismissals of the allegations as "blackmail" and a "co-ordinated" attack to unseat him.
His admission came hours after a House of Representatives panel launched an ethics investigation into the relationship and ahead of a primary run-off election. The primary race to determine the Republican candidate for his congressional district is headed to a May run-off, as neither Gonzales nor rival Brandon Herrera crossed the 50% vote threshold earlier this week. The eventual nominee will stand in November's midterm election in a district along the US-Mexico border that leans heavily Republican, though Gonzales now faces growing calls for his resignation and pressure from Republican leadership to end his re-election campaign.
In a joint statement, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders said they had "encouraged him to address these very serious allegations directly with his constituents and his colleagues" and "asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election." Santos-Aviles died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire near her home in Uvalde, Texas, with the medical examiner ruling her death a suicide. Gonzales claimed in a podcast interview that her death had nothing to do with the affair, stating she was "thriving" at work, but her husband's lawyer alleged her mental health declined sharply after the relationship ended.
The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into whether Gonzales "engaged in sexual misconduct" toward an employee and unfairly dispensed "special favours or privileges." Gonzales asserted that a pay rise Santos-Aviles received was part of a "staff-wide pay increase" and denied any wrongdoing. However, explicit text messages from May 2024 revealed Gonzales asking her for a "sexy pic," with the aide reportedly telling him he had gone "too far," and her husband later texting that he had discovered the affair.
A lawyer for Santos-Aviles's husband, Bobby Barrera, claimed that "the deterioration of her mental state was exacerbated by the conduct Tony engaged in - the workplace harassment after the discovery of the affair," adding to the controversy. Gonzales, who was endorsed by former US President Donald Trump before the allegations surfaced, now navigates a fraught political landscape as the ethics probe unfolds and his electoral future hangs in the balance.
Source: www.bbc.com