Rep. Tony Gonzales Drops Reelection Bid After Affair Admission, Ethics Inquiry

Facing a House Ethics Committee investigation and mounting pressure from his own party's leadership, Rep. Tony Gonzales posted a statement to X late Thursday announcing he would not seek reelection and was withdrawing from a May runoff against Brandon Herrera, ending a congressional career that once carried the full backing of House Republican leadership.

"After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I've always had to my district," Gonzales wrote in the statement.

The announcement came one day after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into his conduct and Gonzales acknowledged on the Joe Pags Show that he had a relationship with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, a former aide who died after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her home in Uvalde. Santos-Aviles was 35 years old, married, and had a son. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a suicide. According to a police report released last month in Uvalde, she was conscious when officers arrived and told them, "my god, I don't wanna die." Gonzales had previously denied the affair.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and NRCC Chair Richard Hudson called on Gonzales to withdraw from the race Thursday. Texas GOP Reps. Monica De La Cruz, Brandon Gill, and Chip Roy issued similar calls, as did El Paso Democrat Veronica Escobar, who went further and demanded his resignation. De La Cruz also called on Gonzales to step down from his chairmanship role in the Congressional Hispanic Conference. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would support expelling Gonzales from the House altogether, though expulsion requires a two-thirds vote of the chamber.

Republican leaders stopped short of demanding immediate resignation. The calculus was plain: Republicans currently hold a 218-214 majority in the House, meaning the loss of even one seat on a strict party-line vote could stall the GOP agenda.

Gonzales argued as much himself, insisting before his withdrawal that his vote was too important to the Republican majority and to President Donald Trump's agenda to give up. Trump, who had congratulated Gonzales at a Corpus Christi rally days before the primary without elaborating on what he was congratulating him for, did not repost Gonzales when he shared his Texas congressional endorsements that same day and has not commented on the scandal since it broke.

Gonzales's exit clears the path for Herrera, described by AP as a gun manufacturer and YouTube gun-rights influencer who narrowly lost to Gonzales in the 2024 Republican primary, to become the GOP nominee. Herrera will face Democrat Katy Padilla Stout in the November general election. Texas's 23rd Congressional District, which stretches across a large portion of the U.S.-Mexico border and West Texas, heavily favors Republicans.

Gonzales, who is married and the father of six children, vowed to remain in Congress and fulfill his duties through the end of his current term.