Regina Santos-aviles: Texts Show Gonzales Asked for Explicit Photos as Calls to Resign Intensify
Text messages released on Monday show Rep. Tony Gonzales pressed an aide, regina santos-aviles, to send a "sexy pic" just after midnight on May 9, 2024. The disclosures — and a linked police report detailing her September 2025 death — have sharpened calls for the GOP incumbent to answer questions less than a week before the primary.
Regina Santos-aviles: The messages and their content
Shortly after midnight on May 9, 2024, Gonzales asked his district director in Uvalde, regina santos-aviles, to send a "sexy pic. " When Santos-Aviles pushed back and said the conversation had gone too far, the congressman persisted, telling her he was "just such a visual person. " Those lines are central to the set of texts that her husband shared publicly on Monday as evidence of a relationship between the congressman and his staffer.
Uvalde police report: Circumstances of Santos-Aviles’ death
Uvalde officials provided a full police report on Monday that records Santos-Aviles telling responding officers she set herself on fire because her husband was romantically involved with her best friend. The report notes the couple had been estranged for several months after "Regina's supposed affair" strained the relationship, a friend told the detective investigating her death. Santos-Aviles was taken to a hospital in San Antonio and died the next day in September 2025.
Family details and the human toll
Her husband, Adrian Aviles, shared the text messages and has said the relationship and the professional ostracization she faced after its discovery left her despondent in the months before her death. The couple shared an 8-year-old son. These personal details have become central to the public dispute now playing out in the congressional contest.
Political fallout for Rep. Tony Gonzales
Gonzales, who represents the 23rd Congressional District — the state's largest, stretching across the southwestern border and into San Antonio — is a married father of six. He faces a difficult reelection campaign, with challenger Brandon Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTuber who nearly unseated him in 2024, mounting an aggressive challenge again. Herrera has used ads and social media to accuse Gonzales of a "taxpayer funded affair with a married staffer, which led to her death by self-immolation, " and has called for the congressman to step down.
Gonzales has said in a November statement that rumors of an affair were "completely untruthful. " He did not respond to a request for comment on the newly released texts and police report. In recent days he has declined direct denials, instead accusing Adrian Aviles of attempting to blackmail him and blaming his opponent for politicizing the matter. He has also demanded the full police report be released; Uvalde officials provided it on Monday.
Pressure to resign a week from the primary
With the primary a week away, the timing of the revelations has amplified their political impact. Campaign advertisements and online posts from Herrera have intensified scrutiny of Gonzales at a moment when voters are making last-minute decisions. What makes this notable is how closely the disclosures and official records about a staffer's death align with the election calendar, concentrating reputational and electoral consequences into a narrow window.
The dispute now combines personal tragedy, workplace conduct and a heated campaign atmosphere. Key concrete details — the May 9, 2024, messages, Santos-Aviles' self-inflicted injuries and death in September 2025, the couple's 8-year-old son, Gonzales' status as a married father of six, and Uvalde officials' release of the police report on Monday — form the factual backbone of that intersection.
As the primary approaches, party officials, voters and the campaigns themselves face decisions about how to weigh the texts, the police findings and competing public statements. Herrera has urged resignation; Gonzales has pushed back while disputing the handling of the allegations. The broader implication is that unresolved personnel and personal allegations can quickly reverberate into a campaign, shaping both immediate political calculations and longer-term questions about accountability.
