Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales said Monday that he plans to file his retirement from Congress on Tuesday after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who committed suicide last year.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales posted on X.
There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.
— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) April 13, 2026
The news came about an hour after Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) announced he would step down over a sex scandal.
On March 5, Gonzales dropped his re-election bid in Texas’s 23rd Congressional District after being forced into a runoff by GOP challenger Brandon Herrera. He’s also faced calls from fellow Republicans to resign his seat.
Those calls came after Gonzales admitted to an affair with former staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, a 35-year-old married mother who “doused herself in gasoline and was ignited into flames” in the backyard of her Uvalde, Texas home, according to the fire department.
The Daily Wire previously reported that Gonzales said his affair with Santos-Aviles ended in the summer of 2024, more than a year before Santos-Aviles killed herself. Text messages published in February by the San Antonio Express-News appear to show Gonzales making sexual requests to Santos-Aviles.
