Regina Santos-aviles texts put Rep. Tony Gonzales under renewed pressure before primary

Just after midnight on May 9, 2024, text messages show U. S. Rep. Tony Gonzales asked an employee, regina santos-aviles, to send him a "sexy pic, " and those messages have become central as Gonzales heads into a primary next week.

Texts and the midnight message to Regina Santos-aviles

Text excerpts show Gonzales, the married San Antonio Republican, pressed Regina Santos-Aviles — his district director in Uvalde — for a photograph, writing he was "just such a visual person" after she pushed back and said the conversation had gone too far.

Husband shared messages and linked them to her death

Her husband, Adrian Aviles, shared the text messages with The Texas Tribune on Monday as evidence of an affair, and told the San Antonio Express-News, which published the messages first, that the relationship and the professional ostracization his wife faced after it was discovered led her to become despondent before her death.

Police report details and statements from investigators

Uvalde officials provided a police report to The Texas Tribune on Monday; the report said Santos-Aviles told responding officers she set herself on fire because her husband was romantically involved with her best friend.

The report noted the couple had been estranged for several months after what a friend described to a detective as "Regina’s supposed affair, " and Santos-Aviles died the next day at a hospital in San Antonio.

How the revelations intersect with Gonzales’s reelection fight

Gonzales, who represents the 23rd Congressional District — the state's largest, stretching across the southwestern border and into San Antonio — did not respond to a request for comment. He told voters in November that rumors of an affair were "completely untruthful, " but as more evidence emerged last week he sidestepped direct denials, accused Adrian Aviles of trying to blackmail him and blamed his challenger, Brandon Herrera, for politicizing the issue.

Herrera’s attacks and the campaign backdrop

Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTuber who nearly unseated Gonzales in 2024 and is again running in next week’s primary, has run ads and posted on social media calling the situation 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 also rebuffed the congressman directly in public comments.

Family, dates and confirmed details

Santos-Aviles died in September 2025 after lighting herself on fire, and she and Adrian Aviles shared an 8-year-old son. The messages cited here include Gonzales’s request for a "sexy pic" and his line that he was "just such a visual person. " The police report and the text messages were provided to media outlets and have become part of the dispute over the congressman’s conduct.

Gonzales is married with six children, and the primary contest next week remains the immediate milestone on the calendar as voters decide whether he will remain the party’s nominee.