JUST IN: House GOP Leadership Calls On Tony Gonzales to Drop Reelection Run

(Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

Top House Republicans are calling on Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) to drop his reelection run after he admitted to having an affair with a staffer who committed suicide.

The statement came Thursday from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI).

The statement read:

The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge the to act expeditiously. Congressman Gonzales has has said he will fully cooperate with the investigation. We have encouraged him to address these very serious allegations directly with his constituents and his colleagues. In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election.

The statement fell short of asking Gonzales to resign; his departure would further erode the already razor-thin GOP House majority.

Gonzales has refused to resign from his seat, despite earlier pressure from Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Nancy Mace (SC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Tim Burchett (R-TN).

Gonzales was forced into a primary runoff on Tuesday after failing to obtain more than 50% of the vote. The very next day, he admitted to the affair with married staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who killed herself in September 2025.

“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,” Gonzales told conservative talk show host Joe Pagliarulo on Wednesday. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has. And my faith is as strong as ever.”

Gonzales denied having “anything to do with” Santos-Aviles’s death, telling Pagliarulo he was “shocked” of learning that she died by self-immolation.

The autopsy report obtained by the San Antonio Express-News reported that Santos-Aviles was legally intoxicated when she set herself on fire in her backyard in Uvalde, TX.

In the same interview, Gonzales alleged that Santos-Aviles’s husband, Adrian Aviles, launched a “coordinated” effort to extort money from him. Gonzales also questioned Aviles’s sexuality, saying he “wondered” if that could have contributed to his former staffer’s death.

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