Rep. Tony Gonzales, Texas Republican, publicly confessed Wednesday to having an affair with one of his employees who later died by self-immolation but said he had nothing to do with her tragic suicide.
Mr. Gonzales previously denied having an affair with his staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles and accused her widower, Adrian Aviles, of trying to shake him down for money.
A lawyer for Mr. Aviles last week publicly released sexually explicit text messages that Mr. Gonzales sent to Ms. Santos-Aviles and her reacting uncomfortably to her boss’ overtures.
Mr. Gonzales did not discuss the text messages in an interview with talk-show host Joe Pags, which he said he arranged to publicly confess to the affair.
“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” the congressman said. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.”
Mr. Gonzales is not planning to resign and is continuing his reelection campaign.
In Texas’ primary election on Tuesday, he trailed GOP challenger Brandon Herrera, a pro-gun YouTube influencer by less than 1,000 votes. They are both advancing to a May runoff after neither secured an outright majority of votes cast.
Some of Mr. Gonzales’ colleagues have called on him to resign but others have avoided going that far because an early departure would hamper their already thread-bare majority.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, Indiana Republican, said on social media that Mr. Gonzales “has done the right thing by admitting fault in having an affair.”
“Now he needs to make the responsible choice, focus on his family, and stop his current reelection bid for his congressional seat,” he said.
Mr. Gonzales’ interview confession was released Wednesday night, the same day the House Ethics Committee announced it had opened an investigation into whether Mr. Gonzales had an affair with Ms. Santos-Aviles and gave her a generous pay raise because of it.
Mr. Gonzales denied the latter, saying she did receive a pay bump as part of a staff-wide pay raise in February 2024, “right before all these alleged incidents occurred.”
“We did a staff-wide pay increase for those that were performing well, and we included longevity into this situation as well,” he said. “They got bonuses and various different promotion, spot bonuses for performance. This was all standard.”
“At no time was she ever reprimanded or rewarded in any form or fashion other than what was already regularly happening within the entire staff,” Mr. Gonzales added. “There was no formal complaints. There was no complaints of any issues whatsoever in any form or fashion that have ever been relayed against my office.”
Although the rumor of the affair had circulated more quietly since the time of Ms. Santos-Aviles’ death, the story did not blow up until the text messages were released as early voting was underway in Texas.
“This was all a very coordinated attack towards me,” Mr. Gonzales said.
Mr. Gonzales expressed frustration with the media coverage around the allegations, which have at times insinuated that he was the impetus for Ms. Santos-Aviles’ suicide.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing, and, in fact, I was shocked just as much as everyone else,” he said, noting she died in September 2025 but he had not talked to her since June 2024.
Mr. Gonzales read from the police report that documented the response to Ms. Santos-Aviles setting herself on fire: “The female subject with burn injuries then stated her husband is gay and having an affair with her best friend.”
“I wonder if that had something to do with her tragic passing,” Mr. Gonzales said.
Mr. Aviles has not publicly responded yet to Mr. Gonzales’ interview but he has previously aired his views of the congressman on social media.
“You’re a home wrecking perverted sick man Tony. Zero remorse, zero accountability just denial, deflection, lies, and playing the victim,” he said. “This isn’t ‘coordinated political attacks’ … this is tragedy you helped create, and you refuse to own it.”
He said he was exposing Mr. Gonzales in memory of his wife and out of duty to their 8-year-old son Axel, whom he wants to “grow up knowing what a real man of honor looks like.”
“Texans deserve a leader with integrity, not a coward,” Mr. Aviles said, calling on President Trump to pull his endorsement of Mr. Gonzales.
Mr. Trump has not done so but other Republicans have endorsed Mr. Herrera in the primary.
Mr. Herrera launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Mr. Aviles and his son.
“Let’s step up as a community and help support the family where Tony Gonzales failed to, and help a single father raise young Axel and set him up for the future,” he said on the webpage for the fundraising campaign.
The page had accumulated more than $60,000 by late Wednesday night..
Mr. Gonzales has accused Mr. Aviles of being motivated by money, saying Mr. Aviles called his office within hours of his wife’s death asking about her death benefits and how he could gain access to her retirement fund.
“It was eerie. It was creepy,” he said.
“A few months later, his criminal defense attorney, which I also thought was weird – not a civil offense attorney, his criminal defense attorney – reaches out and essentially asked me for money, or else,” Mr. Gonzales said. “They asked for $300,000. … I don’t have $300,000. And if I did have $300,000, I’m not going to give it to somebody who’s trying to shake me down.”
