Republican blamed as claim that opponent had affair with staffer who died by suicide leaks

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, blamed his GOP opponent Brandon Herrera for politicizing the death of his former staffer Wednesday, a day after the San Antonio Express-News reported on a text message from the woman admitting to having an affair with Gonzales.

Gonzales declined to answer questions about the alleged affair, but he has previously dismissed the allegations as untrue.

Regina Santos-Aviles, a Gonzales aide, died after setting herself on fire in her Uvalde home last year. The Express-News reported Tuesday that an ex-staffer in Gonzales’ office said Santos-Aviles had told him in 2024 she had had an affair with Gonzales, and provided a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she said she “had an affair with our boss.”

“Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place,” Gonzales said in a statement. “Her efforts led to improvements in school safety, healthcare, and rural water like never before. It’s shameful that Brandon Herrera is using a disgruntled former staffer to smear her memory and score political points, conveniently pushing this out the very day early voting started. I am not going to engage in these personal smears and instead will remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”

The ex-Gonzales staffer told the Express-News he had not been paid or promised compensation by any of Gonzales’ primary opponents for coming forward, but had been in touch with Herrera about the affair. The ex-staffer is now working for Democrats in California, according to the Express-News.

In November, in an interview with Punchbowl News at the Texas Tribune Festival, Gonzales publicly addressed the affair rumor, which had been alleged without documentation in the Daily Mail and Current Revolt, for the first time. Gonzales said then that Santos-Aviles should be remembered for her community work and that the “rumors are completely untruthful.”

Gonzales, a Navy veteran who has represented the 23rd Congressional District since 2021, is married and has six children. He is facing a challenging primary race against gun rights activist Brandon Herrera, who came within 400 votes of beating the three-term congressman in a runoff election in 2024. He represents the 23rd Congressional District, the largest in the state, which runs along the southwestern border and includes a slice of San Antonio. President Donald Trump won the seat under its new boundaries by 15 percentage points in 2024, and Democrats have recently taken an increased interest in flipping it this November.

Former Rep. Quico Canseco and Marine Corps veteran Keith Barton are also running in the GOP primary.

Following the report, Herrera called on Gonzales to resign and accused him of both ethical misconduct and of potentially endangering Republican control of the seat. The affair, Herrera said, broke House ethics rules given that Santos-Aviles was a member of Gonzales’ staff and represented a breach of public trust given that Gonzales initially said the allegation was untruthful.

“Similar behavior in our military would lead to court-martial and dismissal from service, and we should not hold the political leaders who oversee our armed services to a lower standard than the one to which our fighting men and women are held,” Herrera said.

Politically, Herrera said nominating Gonzales is a “risk we as a part cannot afford to take.”

Those calls to resign were echoed by state Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, whose state house district overlaps with Gonzales’ congressional district.

“If this is true, and it does appear credible, Tony should step down,” Virdell, who has endorsed Herrera, posted on X. “The family deserves to heal and get past this terrible tragedy. That will be impossible to do if they have to see the person who did it show no remorse for the situation and get re-elected to represent them in Congress.”

Jonathan Saenz, president of the conservative group Texas Values, said Gonzales should resign immediately if the affair report is true. And the San Antonio Express-News editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Gonzales.

Gonzales has the backing of some of the most powerful names in Republican politics, including Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and numerous law enforcement associations.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately return a request for comment on the report.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republican campaign arm, has spent over $100,000 on joint ads with the Gonzales campaign, according to political ad tracking firm AdImpact.

The situation has some similarities to the 2022 Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District, when GOP Rep. Van Taylor’s reelection campaign was upended in the final days by allegations of infidelity. Taylor failed to win the primary outright and dropped out of the race a day later, admitting to an extramarital affair and calling it the “greatest failure of my life.”

Taylor was succeeded in the safely Republican seat by the challenger who would have been his runoff opponent, former Collin County Judge Keith Self. Self continues to represent the district today.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.