Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) admitted on Wednesday that he had an affair with a staff member in his congressional office, reversing months of denials the day after finishing behind his primary challenger with 99 percent of votes counted.

Gonzales confessed during a radio interview on The Joe Pags Show on March 4, calling it a "lapse in judgment" and saying he takes "full responsibility for those actions." The staff member in question, regional district director Regina Santos-Aviles, is dead. She died in September 2025 after pouring gasoline on herself and setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde, Texas, home.

The timing tells its own story. Gonzales didn't come clean when the allegations first surfaced. He didn't come clean when text messages were published in February. He came clean the day after Texas voters put him in second place.

Months of Lies, Then a Radio Confession

Last fall, at the Texas Tribune Festival, Gonzales looked straight at the public and lied. His words at the time were unambiguous:

"The rumors are completely untruthful, and Regina's family has asked for privacy."

That statement aged poorly. Text messages reportedly published in February showed Gonzales sending Santos-Aviles messages including "[S]end me a sexy pic" and "What do you like, Anal?" The San Antonio Express-News reported the two met privately at a rental cabin near Uvalde on at least two occasions in May 2024. Santos-Aviles reportedly responded at one point that the conversation was going "too far."

When asked on The Joe Pags Show whether the text messages were real, Gonzales declined to confirm or deny, saying only that he would "let the investigation play out and share all the different details on it." He acknowledged a "lack of faith" and called his actions a "mistake."

He did not, however, resign.

The Blame Game

What Gonzales lacked in contrition, he made up for in deflection. Rather than focusing on his own conduct, he pivoted to accusing Santos-Aviles' estranged husband, Adrian Aviles, of attempting to "shake me down" for $300,000 after her death. He called the entire situation a "very coordinated attack" driven by "power and money" and described it as "intentional", as Breitbart reports.

Bobby Barrera, the attorney for Adrian Aviles, denied the extortion claims, telling CBS News the letter in question was a standard confidential settlement letter. Barrera accused Gonzales of "trying to play the victim."

Gonzales also pushed back on questions about whether Santos-Aviles received favorable treatment in the office, insisting her compensation followed office-wide patterns:

"At no time was she reprimanded or rewarded in any form or fashion other than anyone else in the office."

He pointed to a February 2024 pay raise he described as "staff-wide" and called her bonuses "standard." The numbers, however, are notable:

• Santos-Aviles' base quarterly salary rose from about $13,500 in late 2023 to roughly $17,000 in 2024
• She received more than $4,000 in bonuses and other compensation
• Her total earnings in 2024 reached nearly $73,000, roughly $19,000 more than the previous year

Gonzales maintained that the largest increase occurred in February 2024, before the alleged relationship. He dismissed conflicting reporting as "half-truths."

Republicans Are Not Impressed

The reaction from within the GOP was swift and unsparing. A senior Republican lawmaker, quoted by Wall Street Journal Congress reporter Olivia Beavers on X, delivered a devastating assessment of Gonzales' radio appearance:

"A total disaster. Tony Gonzales' video is textbook case of what NOT to do. He shows no contrition or empathy for his staffer who died, shows no sincerity to his constituents for lying, and actually attacks the widower and family of his dead staffer. And smears the widower as gay."

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) was more direct about what should happen next:

"Representative Gonzalez has done the right thing by admitting fault in having an affair. Now he needs to make the responsible choice, focus on his family, and stop his current reelection bid for his congressional seat."

Gonzales has repeatedly refused to resign.

The Ethics Investigation

The House Ethics Committee announced on March 4 that it had voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations that Gonzales may have engaged in sexual misconduct with an employee or provided special favors or privileges. Under House rules, members are prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with staff they supervise.

The ethics inquiry follows an earlier investigation by the Office of Congressional Conduct into allegations surrounding Gonzales and Santos-Aviles. The formal subcommittee represents an escalation, one that now runs parallel to a primary runoff that Gonzales is losing.

What Voters Already Decided

Gonzales finished behind challenger Brandon Herrera in Tuesday's primary for Texas's 23rd Congressional District, pulling about 41.7 percent of the vote to Herrera's 43.3 percent. The two will meet again in a May 26 runoff.

The congressman chose the morning after that result to finally tell the truth. Not when the allegations surfaced. Not when the texts leaked. Not when a woman who worked for him died in one of the most horrifying ways imaginable. He told the truth when the voters made clear they already knew he was lying.

There is a woman who is dead. There is a congressman who lied for months, attacked the family of his deceased staffer on air, and now frames himself as the target of a conspiracy. There is an ethics investigation, a runoff election, and a district that deserves better than this.

Gonzales says he takes full responsibility. Responsibility without consequences is just a sentence you say on the radio.