{"id":178294,"date":"2026-02-24T17:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/178294\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:43:09","slug":"republican-house-members-urge-rep-tony-gonzales-to-end-campaign-over-alleged-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/178294\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican House members urge Rep. Tony Gonzales to end campaign over alleged affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks during a recent South Texas appearance. Credit: Twitter \/ @RepTonyGonzales<\/p>\n

At least five of South Texas U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales\u2019 Republican colleagues in the U.S. House are calling on him to step down and end his reelection campaign over news reports he had an affair with a staffer who later committed suicide.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was the first, Monday tweeting on Monday, \u201c@RepTonyGonzales, RESIGN!\u201d <\/p>\n

Since then, Republican U.S. Reps.\u00a0Nancy Mace of South Carolina; Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Brandon Gill of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky have joined the chorus. <\/p>\n

The calls for Gonzales\u2019 resignation come after the Express-News reported on the married lawmaker\u2019s alleged affair with staffer Regina Santos-Aviles. The paper followed up with another story that included text messages in which the Santos-Aviles, also married, purportedly told Gonzales his requests for sexy photos and dirty talk went \u201ctoo far.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRegina Santos-Aviles told him he was going too far. He did not care. He kept going,\u201d Mace said in a statement. \u201cShe is gone now. Her son is growing up without his mother. And Tony Gonzales is campaigning like nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The congresswoman continued: \u201cTony Gonzales should resign immediately and be held fully accountable for what he\u2019s done. She and her family deserved better. And Texans deserve a congressman who does not prey on women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica deserves better,\u201d Gill said on social media platform X. \u201cTony should drop out of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, hasn\u2019t yet joined the chorus. In comments to NBC, Johnson said he spoke to Gonzales and told him to address the reports \u201cin an appropriate way with his constituents.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early for anybody to prejudge any of that, but we\u2019ll see how it develops,\u201d said Johnson, who faces the likelihood that Republicans will lose their razor-thin House majority in the midterms.<\/p>\n

Gonzales, whose 23rd District includes the western edge of San Antonio and most of the U.S.-Mexico border, faces a tight primary against a pro-gun YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera, who forced him into a 2024 runoff.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018She is gone now. Her son is growing up without his mother. And Tony Gonzales is campaigning like nothing happened,\u2019 one House colleague said of the alleged affair. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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