Documents show that Rep. Tony Gonzales sent sexually suggestive messages to employees

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, sent sex messages to a former aide he allegedly had sex with before his suicide death last year, the messages were obtained by an NBC News show.

In a series of late-night messages from May 9, 2024, Gonzales asked his then-employee to “send me a sweet picture.” He went on to ask her her “preferred position” and then mentioned many sexual acts.

The aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, eventually responded by telling the congressman, “this is too far, Tony.”

“Please tell me you didn’t just hire me because I was hot,” Santos-Aviles wrote.

“Not really,” replied Gonzales.

NBC News obtained the messages and confirmed their authenticity with Bobby Barrera, the attorney for Santos-Aviles’ widow, Adrian Aviles. Previously, Barrera said he was working with his client to release messages to confirm that Aviles was suspected of having an affair with Gonzales.

The text messages, which only include messages exchanged within half a day, do not suggest that there was a physical relationship between the two. The San Antonio Express-News and 24Sight News first published the messages.

Gonzales’ office did not return a request for comment Monday.

NBC News reported last week that the Office of Congressional Conduct has concluded an investigation into the alleged affair, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. According to House rules, he is not allowed to submit his report to the House Ethics Committee so close to Texas’ March 3 primaries, when Gonzales faces a major challenge. Meanwhile, many of Gonzales’ Republican colleagues in the House on Monday called for him to resign or end his campaign.

In the weeks following Santos-Aviles’ death in 2025, Gonzales denied allegations that they were dating. But it resurfaced last week when Santos-Aviles’ widow accused the congressman of having an affair with his then-wife, and Gonzales has not addressed the substance of the allegations since then.

Instead, in a statement, he framed the allegations as a politically motivated first-season attack on Brandon Herrera, his top rival, and accused his widow and attorney of trying to manipulate him.

“It’s a shame that Brandon Herrera is using a disgruntled former employee to tarnish his memory and score political points, pushing this on the day voting began,” Gonzales said in a statement to NBC News last week. “I will not engage in these smears and will instead continue to focus on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”

Gonzales accused both Barrera and Aviles of defrauding him, publishing an email from a lawyer discussing a $300,000 non-disclosure agreement. He wrote on social media platform X over the weekend that he has not faced “a single legitimate complaint” in his political career, lamenting how “coordinated political attacks” are now hitting him ahead of his election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told NBC News in a brief interview that he “endorsed Tony before all those allegations came out,” calling them “very bad.”

“I have spoken to him and told him that he should fix that properly with his members’ representatives, and all that,” he added.

“It’s too early for anybody to prejudge any of that, but we’ll see how it develops,” Johnson said.

While many other Republicans did not comment on Gonzales, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote on social media that she should “resign,” while Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called on Gonzales to “drop out of the race.” Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida wrote in X that all her colleagues “should condemn a sitting member of Congress who requests pornographic photos of her staff,” calling the messages “disgusting.”

Gonzales will enter the March 3 Republican primary against candidates including Herrera, a pro-gun activist. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to the first runoff in May. That’s what happened in 2024, when Herrera fell just a few hundred votes short of defeating Gonzales in the runoff.

Herrera called on Gonzales to resign, saying he had violated public trust — and that Gonzales could jeopardize Republican efforts to hold onto the district if he didn’t step aside. President Donald Trump carried the 23rd District in West Texas by nearly 15 percent in 2024.

A recent ad from Herrera’s campaign warns the allegations “put Republicans at risk of losing this seat and give Democrats control of Congress.”

“That’s a risk we can’t afford. In the March 3rd Republican primary, vote for a pro-Trump Republican who can keep this seat,” the ad’s narrator said.