Rep Tony Gonzales Refuses to Resign as Texts Spark GOP Calls for Exit
rep tony gonzales has rejected calls to step down after newly published text messages showed him pressing a former senior staffer for intimate photos and making sexually explicit comments. The revelations have spurred several House Republicans to demand his resignation and have put added focus on a competitive primary that his allies say he must address directly.
Republican Colleagues and Speaker Mike Johnson Demand Answers
Pressure intensified when multiple Republican members — including Thomas Massie, Tim Burchett, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna and Nancy Mace — publicly called for Gonzales to leave his seat. Speaker Mike Johnson said Gonzales must confront the allegations directly, noting the matter should be resolved ahead of the coming primary and that the accusations "must be taken seriously. " Johnson, however, stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement and said the facts should play out through due process.
Other Republicans have taken formal steps: one member introduced a resolution seeking public release of the House ethics committee's wider records and reports of sexual harassment allegations against members. Additional Republican officials urged Gonzales to drop out of the race, and two Texas Republicans separately called for his resignation and endorsed his principal challenger.
Messages Between Gonzales and Regina Ann Santos-Aviles Surface
The newly revealed exchanges include a message sent at 12: 15 a. m. on May 9 in which the congressman asked the staffer to "Send me a sexy pic, " and further messages in which he inquired about sexual preferences and discussed intimate acts. In some of those exchanges, the staffer warned him twice that he was going "too far. " The staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, began working for the congressman in 2021.
Gonzales has previously denied having an affair with the aide. After the latest messages were published, he told reporters he would not resign and said there would be an opportunity for all details and facts to come out. He characterized earlier allegations as politically motivated and said he had been blackmailed, but he has not publicly addressed the newly released texts themselves.
Personal Tragedy and Potential Electoral Consequences
The matter is entwined with a personal tragedy: Santos-Aviles later died in an event the local medical examiner ruled a suicide. Her widower has said he learned of the alleged relationship after finding sexual text messages in May 2024. At one point, Santos-Aviles sent a message to a colleague stating, "I had [an] affair with our boss and I’m fine. " Those details have intensified scrutiny of Gonzales as he seeks another term.
Gonzales, a married father of six who has served in the House since January 2021, faces a closely watched Republican primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, who nearly unseated him in the previous cycle. Party officials and rank-and-file members have warned that the disclosures could shape voter sentiment in the contest. What makes this notable is how quickly internal party pressure and formal requests for transparency followed publication of the messages, transforming a personnel allegation into a broader institutional controversy.
Nancy Mace has pushed for greater transparency by forcing the ethics committee to release records, and other Republican leaders have publicly pressed Gonzales to speak directly to constituents. Former and current allies have voiced frustration with the timing and intensity of the fallout, saying the congressman must provide answers before the primary.
The congressman retains some high-profile support: he received a presidential endorsement for his reelection campaign in December. Still, the torrent of intra-party criticism—coupled with formal calls for release of internal committee records—creates immediate political and procedural pressures. The published messages are the proximate cause of those developments, and the effect has been a cascade of demands for explanation, potential committee scrutiny and an uncertain primary outcome.
For now, rep tony gonzales remains in office and insists he will not step down, even as colleagues press for more information and institutional transparency ahead of voters deciding his political fate.
