Pressure is mounting inside the Republican Party as two of its most headline-friendly members are now publicly demanding that one of their own step down over a growing scandal that’s become impossible to ignore.
Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Nancy Mace of South Carolina are calling on Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales to resign following reports that he sent provocative text messages to a former staffer who later died by suicide.
For months, Gonzales has been entangled in questions surrounding the September 2025 death of Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, a 35-year-old former district director in his Uvalde office who had allegedly been involved in an affair with the congressman.
Now, newly surfaced text messages — obtained and published by the San Antonio Express-News and authenticated by Santos-Aviles’ widower — are putting fresh scrutiny on the situation just as Gonzales prepares for what was already expected to be a tight re-election race.
In messages from May 2024, Gonzales reportedly asked Santos-Aviles to “send me a sexy pic” and continued requesting one despite her expressed hesitation. In other texts, he allegedly asked explicit questions about sexual activity.
At one point, according to the report, Santos-Aviles told Gonzales he was taking things “too far” — twice.
Nancy Mace didn’t mince words.
“The allegations against Congressman Tony Gonzales are deeply disturbing: a sitting Member of Congress accused of soliciting explicit photos from a staffer and subjecting her to graphic sexual texts,” Mace said in a statement Monday. “This is an abuse of power.”
Lauren Boebert’s response was even shorter.
“RESIGN!” she posted on X.
Other Republicans have joined the chorus. Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Texas Rep. Brandon Gill have also called on Gonzales to give up his seat.
“America deserves better. Tony should drop out of the race,” Gill wrote online.
Gonzales has declined to comment directly on the affair allegations, previously calling them “personal smears.” In a statement to The New York Times last week, he described Santos-Aviles as a “kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place.”
But the timing of the renewed controversy is politically precarious.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23) addresses the media following the end of Title 42 on Friday, May 12, 2023, with border updates at the intersection of Calleros Court and Chihuahua Street in El Paso, Texas.
Gonzales is preparing to face Brandon Herrera, a YouTuber and firearm manufacturer who narrowly lost to him in the 2024 Republican primary. The rematch was already expected to be competitive. Now, the text messages — combined with Santos-Aviles’ death — have added a deeply personal and troubling dimension to the race.
According to a former Gonzales staffer, Santos-Aviles claimed in April 2025 that she had an affair with the married congressman the previous year. At the time of the alleged relationship, Gonzales was campaigning for re-election in Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, which stretches across a large swath of the state from San Antonio to El Paso.
Santos-Aviles was also married and the mother of a young boy.
Her attorney, Bobby Barrera, confirmed to The New York Times that she admitted the affair to her husband before her death.
