Tony Gonzales faces new scrutiny after texts show request for explicit photo
Newly public text messages show that tony gonzales pleaded with a staff member to send an explicit photo, a disclosure that has intensified political pressure ahead of a close primary. The messages, and details in a police report and family statements, tie the exchanges to the 2025 death of the staffer and to attacks from Gonzales’ primary opponent.
May 9, 2024 texts: ‘sexy pic’ and ‘just such a visual person’
Just after midnight on May 9, 2024, text messages show U. S. Rep. Tony Gonzales asking Regina Santos-Aviles, an employee, to send him a “sexy pic. ” When Santos-Aviles pushed back and said the conversation had gone too far, the married San Antonio Republican persisted, writing that he was “just such a visual person. ”
Regina Santos-Aviles was Uvalde district director and died after self-immolation
Regina Santos-Aviles served as Gonzales’ district director in Uvalde. She died in September 2025 after lighting herself on fire and then dying the next day at a hospital in San Antonio. Santos-Aviles and her husband, Adrian Aviles, shared an 8-year-old son.
Husband made texts public on Monday and described ostracization
Adrian Aviles shared the text messages on Monday as evidence of an affair between Santos-Aviles and the congressman. He told a newspaper that the relationship and the professional ostracization his wife faced after it was discovered led her to become despondent before her death. A friend told the detective investigating her death that the couple had been estranged for several months after “Regina’s supposed affair” strained the relationship.
Police report shows Santos-Aviles said motive involved husband and best friend
Uvalde officials provided a police report on Monday that says Santos-Aviles told responding officers she set herself on fire because her husband was romantically involved with her best friend. The report is among the documents now circulating as evidence in the dispute over what happened before her death.
Gonzales’ denials, accusations of blackmail and calls for the report
Gonzales did not respond to a request for comment. He said in November that rumors of an affair between him and Santos-Aviles were “completely untruthful. ” As more evidence has emerged over the last week, he has not issued a direct denial; instead he has accused Adrian Aviles of trying to blackmail him and has blamed his opponent in next week’s primary, Brandon Herrera, for politicizing the issue. Gonzales has also called for the full police report related to Santos-Aviles’ death to be released.
Election fight intensifies: Herrera’s attacks and Gonzales’ district profile
Gonzales is married with six children and represents the 23rd Congressional District, the state’s largest, which stretches across the southwestern border and into San Antonio. He is facing a tough reelection bid as Brandon Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTuber, takes another swing at the seat after almost unseating Gonzales in 2024. In ads and on social media, Herrera has accused Gonzales of having a “taxpayer funded affair with a married staffer, which led to her death by self-immolation, ” and has said Gonzales should step down; Herrera has rebuffed the congressman.
An article dated February 23, 2026 and credited to Eleanor Klibanoff first published the messages and related reporting now at the center of the contest.
