Newly published text messages show Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) repeatedly sought nude photos and a sexual relationship with his campaign political director during his 2020 congressional campaign, years before his affair with congressional staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, which he recently admitted to.
San Antonio Express-News state politics reporter Bayliss Wagner reported Monday that Gonzales, then a first-time congressional candidate running to succeed retiring Rep. Will Hurd in Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, sent sexually explicit messages to his campaign’s political director in June 2020 and propositioned her again a few days after he declared victory in the July 15, 2020, GOP runoff.
According to Wagner’s coverage, Gonzales began by responding to frustrations the woman expressed about dating, telling her she was a “smart girl” and should not “settle.” He then shifted the conversation toward increasingly intimate questions, asking when she usually went to sleep, what she wore to bed, and eventually, “What kind of panties do you wear?”
The report states that within hours Gonzales, a married father of six, was asking the campaign aide to send him nude photographs and describing sexual acts he wanted to engage in. After the woman repeatedly declined his requests for photographs, Gonzales responded, “47 nos is about my limit.”
The following day, Gonzales again asked for a picture, and then again the next day. Wagner wrote that Gonzales texted the aide on June 15, 2020, “I know what I want and won’t stop until I get it.” The aide replied with a facepalm emoji and answered, “You better do that in Congress,” adding, “And take me with you.”
The Express-News reported Gonzales asked the aide more than a dozen times over three days to send nude photos, continuing to press her after she twice sent images that concealed most of her body. The paper also reported Gonzales attempted over several weeks to persuade the woman to begin a sexual relationship.
According to Wagner, Gonzales twice visited the aide at her home in June 2020, but the relationship never became physical. “We didn’t so much as touch,” she told the Express-News.
On June 13, Gonzales asked if he could come over for a late-night drink “without doing anything.” After leaving, he texted her: “Okay you have two options… I left (as I did) and we continue the mystery” or “I stayed and we f—ed like rabbits.”
She replied, “Leave. And let the mystery build.” Gonzales later asked to return, telling her, “If I come over though your panties are coming off.”
The next night, they again met at her home. Afterward, Gonzales told her he felt unwanted. When she replied that he had “got weird last night,” Gonzales again asked for a photo.
The woman, who joined Gonzales’s campaign as a volunteer in April 2020 and became political director in June, eventually stopped engaging with his advances. After Gonzales won the July 2020 runoff by seven votes over Raul Reyes, he again texted her: “Wow. Still in shock…You turned me down.”
The woman, an Army veteran who now volunteers for Brandon Herrera, said she regretted having “played” Gonzales and told the Express-News, “I’m not totally innocent in all this,’ but came forward after learning of the 2025 death of Gonzales aide Regina Santos-Aviles. She said Gonzales “obviously pursued, pursued, pursued her like he did with me.”
Herrera, a conservative YouTube personality and gun-rights activist, finished ahead of Gonzales in the March Republican primary for Texas’s 23rd Congressional District. Gonzales later withdrew from the race amid the growing scandal, making Herrera the Republican nominee.
Santos-Aviles died in September 2025 after pouring gasoline on herself and being engulfed in flames at her home in Uvalde. Police said they did not suspect foul play, while her family maintained she did not intentionally start the fire.
After months of denials, Gonzales admitted on March 4 during an appearance on The Joe Pags Show that he had an affair with Santos-Aviles, calling it a “mistake” and “a lapse in judgment” for which he took “full responsibility.” He had previously said at the Texas Tribune Festival that “The rumors are completely untruthful.”
Earlier reports showed Gonzales asked Santos-Aviles for “sexy pics” and discussed sexual topics with her in 2024. The San Antonio Express-News also reported the two met privately at a rental cabin near Uvalde.
On March 4, the House Ethics Committee announced an investigative subcommittee to examine whether Gonzales engaged in sexual misconduct toward a congressional employee or dispensed special favors. House rules prohibit members from having sexual relationships with employees they supervise.
The next day, Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain urged Gonzales to withdraw from his reelection campaign.
Several House Republicans also called for Gonzales to resign or face punishment, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, Thomas Massie, and Anna Paulina Luna.
After Wagner’s latest report, Luna wrote:
“NO means NO.
I’d vote to expel both him and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
Both need to go.”
