Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales Ends Reelection Bid After Admitting to Affair
Gonzales finally admitted to having an affair with former staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who committed suicide in September 2025.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) dropped his reelection bid late Tuesday night.
Gonzales finally admitted to having an affair with former staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who committed suicide in September 2025.
“After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales wrote on social media. “Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful.”
— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) March 6, 2026
Gonzales headed to a runoff on May 26 against Brandon Herrera for the Republican nomination to represent Texas’s 23rd Congressional District.
That won’t happen now.
On Wednesday, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into Gonzales after he admitted to the affair on a podcast: “I take full responsibility for those actions. 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. When you make mistakes like this, you know it’s never easy. It humbles you, but it’s important to kind of work through it all.”
House Republican leaders urged Gonzales to withdraw his bid on Thursday because of the ethics investigation.
Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (MN), and House Republican Caucus Chair Lisa McClain (MI) said in a joint statement: “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.”
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Comments
Getting Brandon Herrera into Congress would be a huge 2A victory.
Yes it would be! Been watching his videos for years.
Solid 17+ point GOP district. Unless Herrera majorly effs up, which I doubt, he should win. Unfortunately, the Dems are probably going to spend a lot of money in the race because TX 23 contains Ulvalde and Herrera is a character. He faces Katy Padilla Stout who will no doubt pretend to be a moderate like *cough* Spanberger. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice.
I’d like to see Herrera get out of the gate now for the general.
The money, incidentally, was probably the real factor driving the GOP to push Gozales out of the race. Herrera lost last time by less than 400 votes. Herrera was going to romp Gonzales in the runoff. The GOP didn’t want Herrera to waste time and money on the runoff.
AK50 for you… and you… and you, and you!
Let’s go Brandon!
Good. A distraction the GOP does not need.
to be honest, i’d have rather seen him get beat in the runoff, which was clearly going to happen.
i’m thinking he dropped out to avoid a defeat, figuring to come back later at some point and try to retake the seat.
This pos denied everything until it was clear Brandon was going to beat him and Johnson was opening a House ethics investigation into him. I bet Johnson of someone in House leadership offered him a choice, drop out of the race and quietly serve out your term and the investigation will take until November or suffer the investigation, the House will refuse to seat you or expel you and Abbott will call a special election.
If he had won in November the House could not refuse to seat him. The House can only refuse to seat someone if it believes, on reasonable grounds, that he’s ineligible or that he didn’t win.
And expelling a member requires a 2/3 vote, which means it would need the Dems to cooperate. If I were a Rep congressman and the Dems were trying to expel one of their members who was harming them, I would certainly vote against it. So I can only assume the Dems would do the same.
First congressional member to also be a youtube influencer.
Thank God it’s a gun influencer.
Doughnut, admin results, demo ranch and a litany of others are all gonna be “staffers”
I’m glad Herrera will be in Congress, but I’m sad to see it happen in this way. I’d rather see him win fair and square, not have it handed to him because of a scandal.
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