Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas admitted on Wednesday to having an extramarital affair with a former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, who fatally set herself on fire at her Uvalde home in September 2025.
The 45-year-old congressman, a married father of six, made the admission during an interview on "The Joe Pags Show," one day after failing to secure a majority in his primary and advancing to a runoff against fellow Republican Brandon Herrera.
According to the NY Post, the House Ethics Committee is investigating Gonzales over claims he "engaged in sexual misconduct" with a staffer and "discriminated unfairly" by "dispensing special favors or privileges."
Gonzales did not dispute the affair itself. He framed the admission as an act of accountability.
"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."
He added that he has asked God to forgive him, said he has reconciled with his wife, and described the experience as humbling. What he did not do was offer any real reckoning with the gravity of what followed.
Santos-Aviles, 35, a married mother, set herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home on September 13, 2025. She died the following day from the severe burns she suffered.
The affair reportedly took place in May 2024. Leaked text messages between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles emerged last month, including one in which Gonzales asked for "a sexy pic." Other texts, described as shared with The Post, referenced the affair directly.
Gonzales insists his involvement ended well before her death.
"I hadn't spoken with Miss Santos since June of 2024. She passed September of 2025 … I had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing. And in fact, I was shocked just as much as everyone else."
He also pushed back against reports suggesting Santos-Aviles had struggled professionally.
"You know, some of the reports are saying that she was not thriving at work. It's the exact opposite. She was thriving at work."
Her widower, Adrian Aviles, has charged that Gonzales "abused his power" by engaging in an affair with his subordinate and has demanded that the congressman be held accountable.
Whatever the personal dimensions of this story, voters in Texas' 23rd District are already rendering their own judgment. Gonzales failed to receive a majority in Tuesday's Republican primary. Brandon Herrera, who nearly beat Gonzales in the 2024 GOP primary, received nearly 1,000 more votes than the incumbent on Tuesday night. The two will face each other in a May 26 runoff.
Several of Gonzales's fellow House Republicans have also called on him to resign, though the specific members have not been publicly identified.
The Ethics Committee investigation adds an institutional layer to the political peril. The probe's scope covers not just the sexual misconduct allegation but the question of whether Gonzales used his office to dispense special treatment. That second charge, if substantiated, transforms a personal scandal into an abuse-of-power case.
Gonzales said all the words a public figure is supposed to say. He invoked responsibility. He invoked God. He invoked humility. But accountability is not an incantation. It is not a rhetorical posture you adopt on a radio show the day after a bad election night.
A member of Congress carried on an affair with a subordinate. That subordinate is dead. Her husband says the congressman abused his power. The Ethics Committee is investigating. And Gonzales's response is to assure voters that there is "a whole lot more to the story" that "isn't out there," while simultaneously insisting he bears no connection to the outcome.
Conservatives hold themselves to a standard. That standard does not bend because the person in question has an (R) next to his name. The GOP's credibility on institutional integrity, on family, on the proper use of public office, depends on applying the same scrutiny to its own members that it demands of the other side. A congressman who enters into a sexual relationship with a staffer has, at minimum, violated the trust of his constituents, his family, and the office he holds.
There is a real human cost here that no political framing can absorb. A 35-year-old woman is dead. A widower is demanding answers. Six children watched their father explain himself on the radio. These are not abstractions.
The voters of the 23rd District will have their say on May 26. The Ethics Committee will continue its work. But if Tony Gonzales believes that "I take full responsibility" is the same thing as actually bearing it, the runoff will teach him the difference.