Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales has exited his reelection runoff after an affair scandal with a former aide embroiled his campaign.
Gonzales released a short statement announcing his decision to withdraw without acknowledging the affair with a former staffer, who later committed suicide.
“At 18, I swore an oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. During my 20 years in the military and three terms in Congress, I have fought for that cause with absolute dedication to the country that I love,” he said.
After saying he “always fought for the greater good,” citing his commitment to border security and his work after the school shooting in Uvalde, Gonzales said that he decided to withdraw after “deep reflection.”
“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. Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful,” he concluded.
Gonzales dropping out comes after he admitted to having an affair with a senior aide before she reportedly doused herself with gasoline and set herself on fire, per Breitbart News on Thursday:
Gonzales, who has repeatedly refused to resign, made the admission during a radio interview on The Joe Pags Show on March 4, a day after voters went to the polls in the Republican primary for Texas’s 23rd Congressional District. With 99 percent of votes counted, Gonzales finished behind challenger Brandon Herrera, receiving about 41.7 percent of the vote to Herrera’s 43.3 percent, setting up a May 26 runoff.
Gonzales said he “made a mistake,” had a “lapse in judgment,” and that there was “a lack of faith,” adding that he takes “full responsibility for those actions,” referring to a relationship with Regina Santos-Aviles, a regional district director in his office who died in September 2025 after pouring gasoline on herself and setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde, Texas, home.
Gonzales admitted to the affair after repeatedly denying and dismissing reports about their relationship.
In September of last year, 35-year-old Regina Santos-Aviles, who served as regional district director for Gonzales, died after apparently setting herself on fire at her home in Uvalde, Texas. Her family insisted at the time that she did not intentionally start the fire and that she did not want to kill herself. As the New York Post noted at the time:
Officials did not say whether she deliberately started the fatal blaze, but the Uvalde Police Department said it does not suspect anybody else was involved in her death or that there was any foul play.
Despite the report of apparent self-immolation, her family remained adamant that whatever happened was accidental.
Santos-Aviles was alone when the fire started, home surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed.
Her alleged last words were “I don’t want to die,” according to a family member. She left behind an eight-year-old son and a husband, from whom she had been separated for several months. Several anonymous sources told the Daily Mail that she became romantically involved with Gonzales after joining his staff in November 2021.
Several sources confirmed that Gonzales, a married father of six, did not attend Regina’s funeral when it was held on September 25.
One source told the Daily Mail that Regina’s husband, Adrien Aviles, knew of the affair at the time of her death:
Aviles was frequently seen by his side, including during Elon Musk’s high-profile tour of the border in September 2023. At the time, Eagle Pass was considered the epicenter of the border crisis.
Aviles and her husband had separated after he learned of the affair sometime this year, a source shared, but continued to co-parent their eight-year-old son.
Adrian Aviles, who runs a video surveillance business, had previously installed cameras at Regina’s home, which captured her pouring gasoline on herself prior to the self-immolation. The Uvalde Police Department later gave that footage to the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab for review.
“Regina Santos-Aviles was alone in her backyard when the fire began, which ultimately caused significant injuries and required her transport to the emergency room,” the Uvalde Police said in a statement to the Daily Mail. “At this stage of the investigation, we do not have any information to suggest that anyone else was involved.”
