GOP Rep. Gonzalez enters the Texas primary battle to keep his job after allegations of an affair

Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Texas sought to fend off a primary challenge on Tuesday that comes as he faces calls to resign following allegations of an affair with his aide, who later died after setting herself on fire.

Gonzalez, who has said he will not step down, entered the nation’s first major 2026 primary under pressure from fellow House Republicans after reports were published last month that claimed to show explicit text messages between him and the former staffer.

The three-term congressman is participating in a rematch against GOP challenger Brandon Herrera, a gunsmith and gun rights YouTube influencer who narrowly lost to Gonzalez by less than 400 votes in the 2024 primary.

President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez in December, and last week, Gonzalez was among Texas Republicans who attended Trump’s visit along the Texas coast.

“There will be opportunities for all the details and facts to emerge,” Gonzalez said last week in Washington. “What I saw is not all the facts.”

Gonzalez, a father of six, won his seat for the first time in 2020 after retiring from a 20-year career in the U.S. Navy, including time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more: What to expect in the Texas primaries

His 2020 win beat Democratic expectations in the sprawling district along the U.S. border with Mexico that stretches from west of San Antonio to El Paso. His win was driven in part by Trump’s surprisingly strong performance in the heavily Latino Rio Grande Valley.

Gonzalez said in a recent social media post that he had been blackmailed and then indicated in another post that he was the target of “coordinated political attacks.”

The San Antonio Express-News reported that it had obtained text messages in which the former employee, Regina Ann Santos Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she was having an affair with Gonzalez.

The Associated Press did not independently obtain copies of the letters. The lawyer of Adrian Avilés, Santos Avilés’ husband, said that the husband discovered this case before his wife’s death.

Santos Avilés, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death a suicide.