{"id":191802,"date":"2026-03-05T14:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191802\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:42:13","slug":"rep-tony-gonzales-admits-affair-with-former-staffer-who-died-by-suicide-under-house-ethics-investigation-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/191802\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Tony Gonzales admits affair with former staffer who died by suicide; under House ethics investigation \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"File<\/a>File Photo \u2014 Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, walks down the House steps after a vote in the Capitol.<\/p>\n

Sign up for TPR Today<\/a>, Texas Public Radio\u2019s newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales has acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a former staffer who later died by suicide, as the House Ethics Committee investigates allegations involving the relationship.<\/p>\n

The allegations first surfaced during early voting in Gonzales\u2019 GOP primary. At the time, Gonzales denied the claims.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Gonzales publicly acknowledged the relationship for the first time, speaking on the conservative radio program, \u201cThe Joe Pags Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cSince then, I\u2019ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I\u2019ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The admission comes as Gonzales faces scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee over the relationship and a Republican primary runoff against Brandon Herrera, who has called on the congressman to resign.<\/p>\n

The House Ethics Committee announced last month that it had opened an investigation into Gonzales, who represents Texas\u2019 23rd Congressional District, following reports about the relationship.<\/p>\n

House rules prohibit members of Congress from engaging in sexual relationships with employees under their supervision. Investigators are expected to examine whether Gonzales violated those rules or other standards of conduct.<\/p>\n

Santos-Aviles previously served as Gonzales\u2019 Uvalde regional district director. She died by suicide in September 2025, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner. Authorities said she set herself on fire outside her residence.<\/p>\n

Gonzales has said he will cooperate with the committee\u2019s investigation and does not plan to resign from Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File Photo \u2014 Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, walks down the House steps after a vote in the Capitol.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27900,75278,76099,223,287,27,29,28,2566,2053,12733],"class_list":["post-191802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-brandon-herrera","tag-cd-23","tag-house-ethics-committee","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tony-gonzales","tag-top-stories","tag-tpr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}