The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Tony Gonzales for allegedly having “engaged in sexual misconduct” with a staffer and “discriminated unfairly” by “dispensing special favors or privileges.”
The 10-member bipartisan panel voted to set up an investigative subcommittee for the probe, according to Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.).
The statement from the joint committee leaders didn’t specify which staffer, though Gonzales (R-Texas) has faced allegations from Adrian Aviles that the lawmaker engaged in an extramarital affair in May 2024 with Aviles’ late wife, Regina Santos-Aviles.
Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks during a press conference on Dec. 20, 2023. Go Nakamura for NY PostSantos-Aviles, a 35-year-old regional director for Gonzales, fatally set herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home on Sept. 13, 2025, dying the following day of the severe burns she suffered.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of establishing an Investigative Subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred,” Guest and DeSaulnier said.
The Office of Congressional Conduct investigated the alleged improper sexual relationship between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles this past November — but was barred from referring the matter to the House panel until after Tuesday’s primary election.
Gonzales, 45, will face fellow Republican Brandon Herrera in a May 26 runoff after failing to receive a majority of the votes in Texas’ 23rd District.
With more than 95% of the vote in Wednesday afternoon, Herrera led with 43.3% of ballots cast, with Gonzales at 41.7%, construction executive Keith Barton at 8.5% and former Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco at 6.5%.
Gonzales defeated Herrera in a May 2024 runoff by around 400 votes en route to winning a third House term.
Regina Santos-Aviles (right) in an undated photo. Adrian Aviles / FacebookHerrera, a popular YouTuber who goes by the moniker “The AK Guy,” had excoriated Gonzales, a married father of six, over the relationship with Santos-Aviles.
Text messages released last month by an ex-colleague show that Santos-Aviles acknowledged having an “affair with our boss” — and Adrian Aviles later released direct exchanges in which the congressman asked Santos-Aviles for “a sexy pic.”
Half a dozen House Republicans called on Gonzales to resign or drop his re-election bid after the messages came out.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he’s urged Gonzales to address the allegations directly with constituents.
But Gonzales’ popularity also suffered in his rural district due to votes he took codifying same-sex marriage and incentivizing red-flag laws for gun buyers during the Biden administration.
The 23rd District stretches some 800 miles along the Texas-Mexico border between San Antonio and El Paso.
