Texas Republican Tony Gonzales announced Monday he would resign from Congress, ending weeks of mounting pressure over an admitted affair with a former staffer who later died after setting herself on fire. The 45-year-old married father of six posted the announcement on X, saying he would formally file retirement paperwork when lawmakers returned the following day.
Gonzales became the second member of Congress to announce a departure that day, following California Democrat Eric Swalwell, who also faced ethics scrutiny. The twin resignations left the already razor-thin Republican House majority at 216, 213, according to Fox News.
The resignation came after bipartisan calls for his expulsion, an active House Ethics Committee investigation, and a censure resolution filed by a fellow Republican. Gonzales had initially said he would serve out his term. He reversed course as the walls closed in.
Regina Aviles, 35, began working as a regional district director for Gonzales in November 2021. A former staffer told the Daily Mail that a romantic relationship between Gonzales and Aviles allegedly began in 2022. Her husband, Adrian Aviles, told the Daily Mail he believed Gonzales initiated the relationship.
Adrian Aviles described what his wife had told him about how it started:
"He had made a pass at her and she'd mentioned, she'd said something about, you know, him being her boss and that that was inappropriate."
Adrian said he discovered the affair in June and texted Gonzales and staff members. In May, Gonzales and Regina had allegedly met twice at a Hill Country cabin in Concan, Texas, according to Adrian's account.
On September 13, Regina doused herself with gasoline while on the phone with someone at her home in Uvalde and caught fire, according to sources cited by the Daily Mail. She was airlifted to San Antonio and died the next day. She left behind an eight-year-old son.
House Rule 23, part of the Code of Official Conduct, bars members of Congress from sexual relations with anyone who works under their supervision. That rule made the affair more than a personal failing, it was a potential ethics violation carrying institutional consequences.
The Daily Mail first reported the alleged affair in October 2025. In late 2025, the Office of Congressional Conduct opened an investigation. The House Ethics Committee followed with its own probe after the OCC found "substantial reason to believe" Gonzales was embroiled in the affair. The Washington Examiner reported the Ethics Committee opened its investigation in March into allegations of sexual misconduct and unfairly dispensing special favors or privileges.
One day after his March primary race, in which he finished second with 41.7 percent behind conservative YouTuber Brandon Herrera's 43.3 percent, Gonzales publicly admitted to the affair. He called it a "mistake" and a "lapse in judgment."
The congressman's full statement tried to frame the matter as resolved. He said he took "full responsibility," had reconciled with his wife Angel, and asked God for forgiveness. But the facts on the ground were moving faster than his contrition.
The San Antonio Express News obtained lewd messages from a second staffer, an unnamed woman who said, "This behavior needs to stop." That report widened the scandal beyond a single affair. Federal investigators also reached out to Adrian Aviles in November after the Daily Mail's initial reporting, according to San Antonio attorney Bobby Barrera, who represents Adrian.
The House was heading into a high-stakes week with expulsion resolutions already targeting both Gonzales and Swalwell.
What made this case unusual was the speed and force of Republican-on-Republican pressure. South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace accused Gonzales of "harassing his own staffer in the middle of the night" and demanded he "resign immediately and be held fully accountable for what he's done." Mace also filed a resolution to force the House Ethics Committee to release its reports on sexual misconduct by members. The House voted to send that resolution to committee.
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna went further. She filed a censure resolution against Gonzales and delivered a blistering floor statement:
"I think it's really disgusting how this institution protects itself. We just had a Member of Congress literally sexually harass a woman that then lit herself on fire and you all protected him!"
Luna did not spare her own side. "You guys all protected him! My own side, your side," she said. That kind of candor from within the Republican conference is rare, and it underscored how untenable Gonzales's position had become.
On the Democratic side, Teresa Leger Fernandez, chair of the Congressional Democratic Women's Caucus, said Gonzales's conduct "would result in a termination and investigation in any other workplace." She called it an "abuse of power" and said she planned to introduce an expulsion resolution. AP News reported Fernandez warned Gonzales he had until 2 p.m. the next day before she would file for his expulsion.
Politico reported Monday that Gonzales was set to face an expulsion vote before the House alongside Swalwell. That threat appears to have accelerated his decision to resign rather than face a formal chamber vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson navigated the situation with characteristic caution. He told Punchbowl News that "marital infidelity is not against the law" but acknowledged the ethics process was already underway. "There is an investigation at Ethics. The OCC is on it. All those steps have already been taken and apparently were underway," Johnson said.
Johnson also said he had privately urged Gonzales to "be forthright" and added, "Apparently now he's doing that." When asked whether Gonzales and Swalwell acted appropriately by resigning, Johnson was direct. Fox News reported he said, "I do," adding that "the terrible allegations that were made and obviously the facts that they both admitted to" made the departures "the appropriate thing."
Johnson's posture, letting the process work while privately nudging the exit door, is consistent with how he has handled other high-pressure moments in the chamber. He also noted that two additional House members face allegations of impropriety, though he did not name them.
One open question is what happens to the Ethics Committee's probe now that Gonzales is leaving. The Washington Examiner noted the investigation may end without full public findings if he departs quickly. That possibility frustrated members on both sides who wanted a complete accounting of his conduct, including the second set of allegations involving lewd messages to another staffer.
Gonzales dropped his reelection bid about a month before announcing his resignation, after finishing behind Herrera in the Republican primary. A runoff had been expected in late May. His exit from the race was itself a concession that the scandal had made him politically unviable in a conservative Texas district.
Just The News reported that Gonzales's announcement came hours after Swalwell's own resignation, tying both departures to the broader wave of sexual misconduct pressure sweeping the chamber. Breitbart confirmed the Ethics Committee had specifically examined whether Gonzales engaged in sexual misconduct or gave unfair favors to a congressional employee.
The twin departures leave the House in a precarious position. With the GOP majority now at 216, 213, every vacancy carries weight, a reality that adds operational pressure to an already contentious legislative calendar, including fights over DHS funding and the federal budget.
In his Monday post on X, Gonzales struck a tone of spiritual resignation: "There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all." He added, "It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas."
The record tells a harder story. A subordinate is dead. A second staffer reported unwanted messages. An ethics investigation found "substantial reason to believe" rules were broken. Fellow Republicans filed censure and transparency resolutions against one of their own. And the congressman who said he took "full responsibility" waited months, through a primary loss, a dropped reelection bid, and an expulsion threat, before finally walking away.
The broader pattern in Congress is familiar enough: misconduct surfaces, the institution hesitates, and the member resigns only when the alternatives run out. Luna's frustration, "My own side, your side", captured something real. Both parties have shielded members from consequences until the political math made it impossible. That pattern of delayed accountability erodes public trust in the institution itself.
Accountability should not require a media exposé, a death, and an expulsion threat before Congress acts. If the institution cannot police itself faster than the tabloids can, voters have every right to wonder what the ethics process is actually for.
