Rep. Gonzales, Facing Harassment Allegations, Heads to Primary Runoff With Gun Rights YouTuber Herrera
Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas must continue to try to ward off a primary challenge from YouTuber and gun rights activist Brandon Herrera, after the two GOP candidates advanced to a May 26 run-off, as the embattled incumbent faces allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The Associated Press called the race, concluding neither of the frontrunners would reach 50%, at 1:23 a.m. ET, just after midnight in Texas, Wednesday. Gonzales and Herrera each commanded about 42.5% of the vote, with an estimated three-fourths of ballots counted thus far, with Marine Corps veteran Keith Barton and former congressman Francisco Canseco following with less than 10% each.
Gonzales, a Navy veteran who has represented Texas’ 23rd congressional district in the House since Jan. 2021, previously beat Herrera by a narrow margin in the 2024 Republican primary for the seat.
A gun manufacturer and influencer, Herrera has more than 4 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he calls himself “the AK Guy” and shares videos primarily focusing on firearms. He positioned himself in his campaign as a more conservative alternative to Gonzales, who has at times broken with his party and was censured by the Texas GOP in 2023 after voting for gun safety legislation and the codification of same-sex marriage.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, Herrera also repeatedly condemned Gonzales over the Texas congressman’s alleged affair with his former staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles. Several of Gonzales’ fellow House Republicans have called on him to resign or drop out of the race after news outlets last month published sexually explicit text messages Gonzales allegedly sent Santos-Aviles.
Gonzales has previously denied having an affair. He has not addressed the reported messages between himself and Santos-Aviles. In response to the calls for his resignation, Gonzales told reporters a week before the primary election, “I am not going to resign.” TIME has reached out to Gonzales’ office for comment.
Allegations against Gonzales have prompted calls to resign
Gonzales, a married father of six, has been accused of pressuring his staffer into a sexual relationship.
Santos-Aviles, who began working for Gonzales in 2021, died in September 2025 in what the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled as a suicide.
The San Antonio Express-News reported last month that Santos-Aviles sent a text to another staffer in April 2025 that read, “I had [an] affair with our boss and I’m fine.” The following week, the Express-News and 24SightNews published text exchanges in which Gonzales appeared to press Santos-Aviles to send him a “sexy pic,” among other sexually explicit messages. Santos-Aviles twice warned Gonzales in the reported messages that he was going “too far.”
Speaking to CNN last week, Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ widower, called Gonzales a “predator” and accused the congressman of continuing “to lie to the American people” about the alleged affair. Aviles earlier told the Express-News that he learned about Gonzales’ alleged relationship with his wife in May 2024 when he found messages the lawmaker had sent to Santos-Aviles that were “very sexual in nature.”
In the wake of the reports, House Republicans including Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina called for Gonzales to resign.
Two of Gonzales’ fellow Texas Republicans in the House, Reps. Chip Roy and Brandon Gill, called on Gonzales to withdraw from the race, though they did not join the push for his resignation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called the allegations against Gonzales “alarming and detestable” and told reporters he had told the Texas congressman “he’s got to address that directly and head on with his constituents.” But Johnson also did not take the step of calling for Gonzales’ resignation ahead of the primary, saying: “We have to allow the due process here to play out, as always.”
President Donald Trump, who endorsed Gonzales’ reelection campaign prior to the reports last month, has not spoken about the allegations. Gonzales attended a speech Trump gave in Texas on Friday, following the reports. The President acknowledged his presence and said “Tony, congratulations,” though it was not clear to what Trump was referring.
Gonzales has denied the alleged affair and alleged that he is being blackmailed into a legal settlement. Aviles and his attorney have denied the blackmailing accusation.
Gonzales and Herrera traded accusations ahead of the election
As allegations about the affair surfaced in the media last month ahead of the primary, Gonzales and Herrera levied a series of accusations and condemnations against one another on social media, in the press, and—in Herrera’s case—in campaign ads.
Herrera wrote in response to a post from far-right activist Laura Loomer about Gonzales’ alleged affair that it was “horrifically tragic that a young woman lost her life, especially under these circumstances. But I am glad the truth is finally coming to light.”
“I hate it when corrupt politicians like Tony are guilty of atrocious behavior, and think they can lie their way out of it,” Herrera continued.
In a statement to media outlets after the Express-News later that week published the text Santos-Aviles purportedly sent to another staffer about the alleged affair, Gonzales accused Herrera of politicizing Santos-Aviles’ death.
“Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place,” the lawmaker said. “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 former staffer who shared the text with the Express-News said that he had not received or been promised any compensation from any of Gonzales’ primary opponents. He told the outlet that he had recently been in touch with Herrera about speculation about the affair.
Days later, Herrera took to social media again to condemn Gonzales over the alleged affair, and he called on him to resign. In a post on X, Herrera asserted that Gonzales “had a taxpayer funded affair with a married staffer … something he has lied about, and continues to to lie to voters about,” and referenced Santos-Aviles’ later death by suicide. Herrera included a campaign video in the post featuring headlines referencing the allegations against Gonzales.
The message began a heated exchange between the primary opponents.
Early the next day, Gonzales defended himself and questioned the timing of Herrera’s post ahead of the primary.
“During my six years in Congress not a single formal complaint has been levied against my office,” the Texas lawmaker wrote on X. “Now days away from an election, coordinated political attacks reign in. IT WONT WORK. Half way through early voting and the intensity resides w/ TG voters. I’d rather be us than them.”
In response, Herrera said: “Calling for your resignation over something you objectively did (and then lied about on camera to cover up) isn’t a ‘political attack.’ It’s called accountability.”
After Gonzales’ reported communications with Santos-Aviles were published, the gun rights activist called the messages “disgusting.”
“The question is,” Herrera wrote on X, “will Tony finally admit he’s been lying this whole time? Or will he double down even though there is now undeniable proof?”