House GOP Leaders Urge Tony Gonzales to Withdraw Amid Ethics Probe

House Republican leadership on Thursday called on Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) to withdraw from his campaign for another term in Congress as the House Ethics Committee investigates allegations involving a former staff member in his office who died in 2025.

On March 5, 2026, Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain issued a joint statement regarding Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), two days after the March 3 Republican primary election in Texas’s 23rd Congressional District and one day after Gonzales publicly acknowledged he had an affair with a former aide following months of denials.

The House Republican leadership stated:

The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge them to act expeditiously. Congressman Gonzales has said he will fully cooperate with the investigation. We have encouraged him to address these very serious allegations directly with his constituents and his colleagues. In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election.

The ethics inquiry was formally announced March 4, when the committee said it voted to establish a subcommittee to determine whether Gonzales violated the Code of Official Conduct or any other applicable rules in the performance of his duties. Committee officials emphasized that the formation of the panel does not itself indicate that a violation occurred.

The investigation follows earlier scrutiny by the Office of Congressional Conduct over allegations that Gonzales had an improper relationship with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, a regional district director in his office who worked for him from 2021 until her death in September 2025.

Santos-Aviles, 35, died after pouring gasoline on herself and being engulfed in flames at her home in Uvalde, Texas. Surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed she was alone when the fire began. The Uvalde Police Department said it did not suspect foul play or the involvement of anyone else, while family members maintained she did not intentionally start the fire. She left behind an eight-year-old son and a husband from whom she had been separated.

Reports about a relationship between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles surfaced after her death. Gonzales repeatedly denied the allegations for months, including saying, “The rumors are completely untruthful,” while speaking during a panel at the Texas Tribune Festival.

On Wednesday, Gonzales admitted during a radio interview that he had an affair with Santos-Aviles but did not provide details about the relationship when prompted. Exchanges from May 2024 reportedly included Gonzales requesting explicit photos and asking about sexual preferences even thoughSantos-Aviles replied that the conversation was going “too far.” The San Antonio Express-News also reported that the two met privately at a rental cabin near Uvalde on at least two occasions that month. 

The ethics investigation also comes amid the ongoing Republican primary contest in the district. With 99 percent of votes counted in the March 3 primary, challenger Brandon Herrera received about 43.3 percent of the vote compared with Gonzales’s 41.7 percent, setting up a runoff election scheduled for May 26. The deadline to withdraw and cancel the runoff is March 18.

“I am not going to resign,” the Texas lawmaker told reporters in February as several members of the House GOP conference publicly urged him to step down as the allegations surfaced. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) remarked the reported messages “seemingly show a perverted boss drunkenly coercing a vulnerable staffer into explicit conversations,” adding that such conduct “has no place anywhere, let alone in Congress.” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) described the alleged texts as “disgusting and inexcusable” and said Congress should have “ZERO tolerance for those who abuse their power over others.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also joined the calls for Gonzales to step down. 

At the time, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) wrote that “Every single other Member of Congress should be condemning a sitting Member of Congress asking for explicit photos of their staff.” On Thursday, she “ filed two resolutions on Wednesday that would censure Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) or strip him of his committee assignments.”