House opens inquiry into Texas lawmaker over alleged affair with aide | House of Representatives

The House ethics committee said on Wednesday that it had launched an investigation into Republican Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas over allegations that he had an affair with an aide.

The committee’s top Republican and Democratic members said in a joint statement that an investigative panel will examine whether Gonzales sexually harassed an employee in his office and whether he unfairly discriminated by granting special privileges or privileges.

Gonzales’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The congressman, now in his third term, has said he will not resign in response to the allegations, telling reporters at the U.S. Capitol recently that there will be opportunities for full details and facts to emerge.

“What you see is not the whole truth,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales, a father of six, won the seat for the first time in 2020 after retiring from a 20-year Navy career that also included duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Tuesday, he was forced into a May runoff against gun manufacturer and YouTube gun rights advocate Brandon Herrera, who narrowly lost to Gonzales in the 2024 primary.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that text messages were obtained in which former Gonzales staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles wrote to a colleague that she was having an affair with the congresswoman.

The AP did not independently obtain copies of the messages. The lawyer for Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, said he learned of the affair before his wife’s death.

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