U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales had a romantic relationship with an aide who died last year after lighting herself on fire outside her home, the Express-News reports, citing a text message and people close to the Uvalde woman and her family.
The San Antonio daily is now the third publication to publish a report accusing the Republican South Texas congressman of engaging in an affair with Regina Santos-Aviles, the married office staffer who died in September. Right-wing blog Current Revolt reported on the alleged relationship days after her death, and British publication The Daily Mail followed suit in October.
Gonzales, a married three-term congressman and father of six, didn’t respond to a “list of detailed questions” about the accusations, according to the Express-News.
Gonzales represents Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio’s western fringes to El Paso. He’s up for reelection this cycle and faces a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun-rights YouTuber whom he narrowly defeated in a primary runoff in 2024.
A one-time staffer from Gonzales’ district office told the Express-News that Santos-Aviles, a 35-year-old mother of one, informed him of her romantic entanglement with the congressman in 2024 and reportedly shared a screenshot of a text message she sent admitting to an “affair with our boss.”
The staffer, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, also told the daily that Santos-Aviles fell into depression after her husband learned about the affair and Gonzales abruptly ended the relationship.
Bobby Barrera, an attorney for Santos-Aviles’ husband Adrian Aviles, told the Express-News the affair “was not a secret among the staff.” He added that his client worried about commenting on the matter because of how it could affect the couple’s young son.
“To [Aviles], this is personal. To everybody else, it’s political,” Barrera told the daily. “That’s his son’s mother, and nobody seems to care. They just want to burn Tony.”
Still Barrera told the paper he didn’t think Santos-Aviles’ suicide had anything to do with the purported affair.
Although Gonzales declined to speak to the Express-News, he publicly denied rumors of an affair during a panel at last November’s Texas Tribune Festival.
“The rumors are completely untruthful, and Regina’s family has asked for privacy,” Gonzales told Punchbowl News Senior Congressional Reporter Andrew Desiderio.
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