Regina Santos-aviles Texts Show Rep. Tony Gonzales Asked for 'Sexy Pic' as He Says He Will Not Resign

Text messages show U. S. Rep. Tony Gonzales pressed an aide for a "sexy pic" just after midnight on May 9, 2024, and her husband has turned those messages over to reporters as evidence of an alleged affair. The staffer, regina santos-aviles, later died after setting herself on fire in September 2025, a development that has intensified calls for accountability while Gonzales says he will not step down.

Regina Santos-aviles text exchange with Gonzales

The messages given to reporters include a midnight request from Gonzales for a "sexy pic, " followed by his explanation that he was "just such a visual person" when the aide pushed back and said the conversation had gone too far. Adrian Aviles, the aide's husband, shared those text messages with The Texas Tribune on Monday as evidence of what he described as a relationship between his wife and the congressman.

Police report on September 2025 self-immolation

Uvalde officials provided a police report to The Texas Tribune on Monday that records what Regina Santos-aviles told responding officers. The report says she set herself on fire because her husband was romantically involved with her best friend. The couple had been estranged for several months after, a friend told the detective investigating her death, "Regina's supposed affair" strained the relationship.

Santos-aviles died the next day at a hospital in San Antonio. She and Adrian Aviles shared an 8-year-old son.

Congressman Tony Gonzales' public stance and responses

Gonzales, who is married and has six children and represents the 23rd Congressional District, said in November that rumors of an affair were "completely untruthful. " He did not respond to a request for comment on the newly released texts. As more evidence has emerged over the last week, he has avoided a direct denial of the specific messages and has instead accused Adrian Aviles of attempting to blackmail him and blamed his primary opponent for politicizing the matter.

Gonzales has pushed for the full police report related to Santos-aviles' death to be released; Uvalde officials provided that report to The Texas Tribune on Monday.

Brandon Herrera presses resignations amid primary fight

Brandon Herrera, who nearly unseated Gonzales in 2024 and is again Gonzales' challenger in next week's primary, has used the revelations in campaign material. In ads and on social media, Herrera has described the congressman as 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 also rebuffed the congressman's responses as the controversy has escalated.

Family, workplace and the chain of events

Adrian Aviles told the San Antonio Express-News that the alleged relationship and the professional ostracization his wife faced after it became known left her despondent in the months before her death. That sequence—an alleged relationship, workplace fallout, estrangement and growing despondency—appears in the record presented by Aviles and in the police report: officials were told by Santos-aviles that her husband's involvement with her best friend prompted her actions.

What makes this notable is how the material combines intimate text messages, an official police record and public political pressure into a single, accelerating controversy that intersects personal tragedy with an electoral contest for a sprawling congressional district that reaches from the southwestern border into San Antonio.

The unfolding disclosures leave several questions unclear in the provided context, including the full scope of the professional consequences Santos-aviles experienced after the alleged relationship was discovered. Still, the timeline of messages on May 9, 2024; her death after self-immolation in September 2025; the family details that include an 8-year-old son; and the immediate political responses — Gonzales' denial in November, his recent refusal to resign, and Herrera's aggressive messaging ahead of the primary — are now part of the public record surrounding the case.