{"id":497149,"date":"2026-02-24T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497149\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:50:08","slug":"tony-gonzales-sex-scandal-leads-to-calls-to-resign-from-maga-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497149\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Gonzales Sex Scandal Leads to Calls to Resign from MAGA Lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPressure is mounting on Rep. Tony Gonzales<\/a> (R-Texas) to resign following the publication of text messages that show the married three-term congressman pressured a staffer to send him \u201csexy\u201d pics and quizzed her about favorite sexual positions, even as she told him his sexually charged banter was going \u201ctoo far.\u201d Several lawmakers from both parties have called for Gonzales to step down, including a number of prominent MAGA women.<\/p>\n

\n\tRegina Santos-Aviles, who served as the director for Gonzales\u2019 regional district office in Uvalde, Texas, for four years, died in September<\/a> after lighting herself on fire. Text messages unearthed by the San Antonio Express-News after her death indicate Santos-Aviles, who was married with a young child, eventually acceded to Gonzales\u2019 advances and engaged in an extramarital affair that was discovered by her husband and, ultimately, her co-workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGonzales, who is locked in a competitive Republican primary, previously denied the affair, telling the Express-News the \u201crumors are completely untruthful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut text messages made public<\/a> on Monday by Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles\u2019 estranged husband, show the Republican representative repeatedly pressuring his staffer for photos and intimate details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShortly after midnight on May 9, 2024, Gonzales texted his aide, asking her to \u201cSend me a sexy pic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSantos-Aviles initially rebuffed her boss\u2019 request, writing back: \u201cI swear my life has been a Telenovela for the past seven days. You don\u2019t really want a hot picture of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYes I do,\u201d the married father of six replied. \u201cHurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo,\u201d she told him. \u201cI just don\u2019t like taking pictures of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLater that night he texted again: \u201cFavorite position,\u201d before sharing that his favorite was \u201con top pinning your legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is going too far boss,\u201d she wrote back.<\/p>\n

\n\tUndeterred, he went on to ask about anal sex.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cnever,\u201d she responded. Adding again, one minute later: \u201cThis is too far Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tGonzales went on to ask to spend time with Santos-Aviles during a planned visit to the district; further text messages shared with Express-News indicate the pair spent time at a vacation rental owned by the family of another Gonzales staffer on May 11 and May 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSantos-Aviles\u2019 husband reportedly<\/a> discovered evidence of the affair on May 31 and texted Gonzales and seven of his wife\u2019s coworkers informing them he planned to divorce Santos-Aviles after learning \u201cthat she\u2019s been having an affair on me with your boss Tony Gonzales for some time now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdrian Aviles and another former Gonzales staffer told the Express-News<\/a> that Santos-Aviles was ostracized at work after the affair was made public. Amid the fallout at work and the dissolution of her marriage, Aviles told the paper<\/a> his estranged wife, who continued to work in Gonzales\u2019 district office, \u201cprogressively just started spiraling,\u201d appearing \u201cnoticeably depressed\u201d and \u201clost\u201d in the months and weeks leading up to her self-immolation.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Office of Congressional Conduct opened an investigation into Gonzales\u2019 behavior in November. According to the Express-News<\/a>, Gonzales failed to turn over text messages, emails, and other communications before a statutory deadline. The office is tasked with referring serious matters to the House Ethics Committee \u2014 the body that would ultimately recommend disciplinary action \u2014\u00a0 but it is barred from doing so within 60 days of an election. Texas\u2019 Republican primaries, including in the race for the state\u2019s 23rd Congressional District which Gonzales\u2019 represents, are slated to take place on March 3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tSeparately, Santos-Aviles\u2019 ex-husband hired a lawyer to explore whether Gonzales\u2019 violated the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act, prohibiting lawmakers from violations of employment law, including sexual harassment. Gonzales posted<\/a> a letter from the lawyer to X on Friday, accusing Aviles of trying to profit off his wife\u2019s death, adding, \u201cI WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRepublican women forcefully condemned Gonzales, with several calling on him to resign or drop his reelection bid on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo) was first to call on Gonzales to step down on Monday afternoon. \u201c.@RepTonyGonzales<\/a>, RESIGN!\u201d she demanded on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe 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,\u201d Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cAs 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\u2019ve said before, this is not the only case of this crap up here. @RepTonyGonzales, shame on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) added in a statement of her own: \u201cThese text messages are disgusting and inexcusable\u2026. Tony Gonzales should resign immediately and be held fully accountable for what he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReps. Brandon Gill (R-Texas)<\/a>, Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)<\/a>, and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)<\/a> also called for Gonzales to either step down or give up his reelection bid.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut House Majority Leader Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-La.) declined to call for Gonzales\u2019 resignation on Monday. \u201cI endorsed Tony before all these allegations came out, and they\u2019re obviously very serious. I\u2019ve spoken to him and told him he\u2019s got to address that in an appropriate way with his constituents.\u201d Johnson added: \u201cIt\u2019s too early for anybody to pre-judge any of that, but we\u2019ll see how it develops.\u201d (Asked about the situation this morning, Johnson gave no indication that his position had changed, but he told reporters<\/a> that he planned to \u201ctalk to Tony today.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tRepublicans are currently clinging to a razor-thin majority in the House, holding 218 seats to the Democrats\u2019 214, while three seats sit vacant.<\/p>\n

\n\tA defiant Gonzales told Politico on Tuesday that he would not resign, adding: \u201cThere will be an opportunity for all the details and facts that come out. What you\u2019ve seen is not all the facts.\u201d
If he loses his reelection bid, it will be a blow for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has put over half of a million dollars behind his bid.<\/p>\n

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\n\tGonzales\u2019 closest competitor in the primary is Brandon Herrera, known as \u201cThe AK Guy\u201d on YouTube. Herrera is member of the a prominent member of neo-Confederate group the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which refers to the Civil War as the \u201cWar of Northern Aggression\u201d and has used Nazi marching songs to accompany his firearm videos.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe race is a rematch for Gonzales and Herrera. In 2024, Herrera lost to Gonzales by 354 votes in the 2024 runoff election. President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzales in December, calling him \u201cterrific.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pressure is mounting on Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) to resign following the publication of text messages that show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,24737,44,199218,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-497149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-mike-johnson","tag-news","tag-tony-gonzales","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}