Former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) sent sexually explicit text messages to his 2020 campaign political director, asking the woman for nude photos and sex while his wife was pregnant, the New York Post reported. The messages, which the former staffer shared with the Daily Mail and discussed with the San Antonio Express-News, paint a picture of persistent, unwanted advances toward a subordinate that predated the affair with another aide whose death by self-immolation last year set off the chain of events that ended Gonzales' congressional career.
Gonzales, now 45, resigned effective Tuesday. He had been staring down the threat of expulsion and dropped his re-election bid last month ahead of a scheduled May 26 runoff in the 23rd Congressional District against fellow Republican Brandon Herrera.
The newly surfaced messages matter because they suggest a pattern, not a single lapse. Gonzales previously described his affair with ex-aide Regina Santos-Aviles as "a mistake" and "a lapse in judgment." The 2020 texts tell a different story.
One message dated July 20, 2020, attributed to Gonzales, reads: "Help me fantasize about c, ing inside you." Other messages the former staffer shared include Gonzales telling her, "You're beautiful," and "I want to spread your legs." At the time, Gonzales was running for Congress, and his wife Angel was expecting. She gave birth to a daughter during the period described. The couple have six children.
The Post noted the July 20, 2020 message "has not been independently verified by The Post."
The former political director, now in her 60s, asked to remain anonymous. She told the Daily Mail she rejected Gonzales' advances. "I have never sent pictures to anyone," she said. She described herself as a retired Army veteran accustomed to fending off inappropriate behavior from men in positions of authority.
Her account of the exchanges suggests the requests were not isolated. The Washington Examiner reported that Gonzales allegedly texted "47 nos is about my limit" after repeated requests for nude photos, a line that, if accurate, speaks for itself about the persistence involved.
The former staffer told the San Antonio Express-News and the Daily Mail that she came forward after Santos-Aviles' death last September. Santos-Aviles, another former Gonzales aide, died after setting herself on fire.
"He obviously pursued, pursued, pursued her like he did with me."
That is how the former political director described what she believed happened between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles, as the Washington Examiner reported.
The San Antonio Express-News initially revealed last week that Gonzales had pleaded with his 2020 political director for sex and nude photos. That report rekindled the controversy around the congressman, who was already facing fallout from the Santos-Aviles affair and her death. GOP lawmakers in Congress had been torn over whether to push Gonzales out.
On Monday, Gonzales posted on social media: "There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas." His resignation took effect the following day. He stepped down alongside Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who announced his own resignation amid separate sexual misconduct allegations.
Gonzales did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the newly reported messages.
The woman who came forward offered a complicated self-assessment. She said she was "not totally innocent in all this" and acknowledged that she "played" along at some level. But she drew a firm line at the physical requests.
She framed her decision to speak publicly in blunt terms, telling the Daily Mail:
"I'm retired from the Army, and I'm used to the bad boys' behavior. I've had to deal with it, unfortunately my whole career, and this has got to stop. I'm 60."
She also said Gonzales' behavior did not initially alarm her. "Tony never bothered me as far as, like, I didn't take him that serious, and I know how to say, 'No,'" she said. But Santos-Aviles' death changed her calculus. She told the Daily Mail that "until this poor girl died [then] I thought, 'No, this guy is pure evil.'"
The former staffer later volunteered for Brandon Herrera's 2024 House campaign, describing herself as more conservative than Gonzales. That detail underscores how the personal became political, a constituent and former ally turned against the man she once worked to elect.
Gonzales tried to frame the Santos-Aviles affair as a one-time failure. He called it "a mistake" and "a lapse in judgment." The 2020 messages, sent years before the affair that ended in tragedy, make that framing difficult to sustain. If the texts are authentic, Gonzales was pursuing a subordinate for sex and explicit photos while his wife was pregnant, while he was running for federal office, and while the woman was telling him no.
That is not a lapse. That is a course of conduct.
The Washington Examiner noted that Gonzales is also under House Ethics Committee investigation, adding another layer of institutional scrutiny to a saga that has already cost him his seat. Congress has seen a string of misconduct-driven departures in recent months, including Speaker Johnson's support for expelling Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick after an ethics panel found wrongdoing on 25 of 27 charges.
The Swalwell case, running in parallel, has drawn its own scrutiny. FBI Director Patel called on Swalwell to sit for an interview after the California Democrat's resignation over misconduct allegations. Both parties have members who have disgraced the institution. The question is whether the institution will hold them equally accountable.
Several facts remain unresolved. No outlet has independently verified the July 20, 2020 message beyond the former staffer's account. Gonzales has not publicly addressed the 2020 texts. The specific body that was weighing his possible expulsion has not been named in reporting. And the full scope of any Ethics Committee findings has not been made public.
What is clear is that the text messages that first revealed the Santos-Aviles affair were only the beginning. The 2020 messages suggest the behavior started earlier and reached further than Gonzales ever admitted.
Voters in Texas' 23rd District now face a special election for a seat vacated under a cloud. They deserve a representative who treats the office, and the people who staff it, with basic decency. That should not be a high bar. Tony Gonzales could not clear it.
