U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez Says He Will Not Resign Amid Scandal and Mounting Pressure

DEL RIO, Texas— Republican U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales, whose 23rd Congressional District stretches from San Antonio through Del Rio to El Paso, said yesterday that he will not resign amid mounting evidence of an affair with a staffer, who died by suicide in Uvalde in 2025, and internal pressure from his own party.

In a flash interview Tuesday with CNN, Gonzales flatly rejected calls to step down, saying he “works every day for the people of Texas” and that the full facts of the controversy have not yet come to light. He declined to directly confirm or deny whether the text messages at the center of the scandal — purportedly showing him pressuring a former aide for explicit photos — are authentic.

The allegations stem from text messages shared by the widower of Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, a senior staffer who later died by suicide in Uvalde in September 2025. The messages appear to show Gonzales making inappropriate advances toward the married staffer while she served in his district office — an office that includes constituent services and outreach near Del Rio. In one message reported on by the San Antonio Express-News, Santos-Aviles wrote to another staffer in April 2025, “I had an affair with our boss”.

GOP Representatives including Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have called for Gonzales’ resignation. “RESIGN!” Boebert wrote on social media. At the same time House leadership has urged due process as the Ethics Committee and other bodies assess the matter, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Gonzales also faces a tough rematch with Republican challenger Brandon Herrera here in the primary. Herrera, who held a crowded Town Hall event in Del Rio at Rudy’s BBQ earlier this month, has also called for Gonzales to resign.