US Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas is denying that he had an affair with a staffer who died by suicide final 12 months, allegations that have gained new traction within the closing days earlier than a March 3 main election.
Attorney Bobby Barrera, who represents Adrian Aviles, mentioned his consumer’s partner, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, had confessed that she had been having an affair with Gonzales in June 2024.
Gonzales denies having had the affair and says he’s being blackmailed.
Santos-Aviles, a former staffer in Gonzales’ district workplace in Uvalde, Texas, died in September, according to NCS affiliate KENS. The county health worker dominated that she died of self-immolation and listed her method of demise as suicide.
Barrera added that Santos-Aviles in 2024, confirmed textual content messages to her husband that revealed the extent of the affair. While Barrera described the messages as “substantial,” “graphic” and “detailed about the sexual relationship” that allegedly occurred between Santos-Aviles and Gonzales, he mentioned it was as much as Aviles to launch the messages due to their delicate nature.
Gonzales is within the midst of a tricky GOP main battle in opposition to Brandon Herrera, a YouTube character who ran in opposition to him in 2024. Gonzales, who beat Herrera in a runoff two years in the past by 354 votes, insists that Herrera is behind the reviews of an affair.
In November, the lawmaker dismissed rumors of an affair in an interview with Punchbowl News and mentioned the “rumors are completely untruthful.”
He advised NCS in a press release Thursday: “Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place. Her efforts led to improvements in school safety, healthcare, and rural water like never before. It’s shameful that Brandon Herrera is using a disgruntled former staffer to smear her memory and score political points, conveniently pushing this out the very day early voting started. I am not going to engage in these personal smears and instead will remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”
NCS has reached out to Herrera for remark. In a post on X this week, Herrera wrote: “You blame me? Are you kidding me?”
“Tony Gonzales is an irredeemable coward, who dodges accountability and lies to the people,” Herrera added. “This started with my problems with your votes in Congress, but now I understand you are a horrifically wicked man who must be removed.”
The allegations from the legal professional for Santos-Aviles’ husband comply with a report within the San Antonio Express-News that mentioned Santos-Aviles advised a former worker of Gonzales’ district workplace, whom she labored carefully with, concerning the affair. The San Antonio Express-News spoke with the unnamed former worker and cited a textual content message from Santos-Aviles wherein she mentioned she was having an “affair with our boss.”
Barrera advised NCS that Adrian Aviles didn’t initially need to go public with his allegations however did so following the report, as a result of he didn’t like that Gonzales had denied the alleged affair.
“Tony is out there in the public domain telling people that never happened, that it’s a false, politically hacked campaign against him, which Adrian knew was not true. That’s why Adrian spoke out when he did finally,” he mentioned.
Gonzales, in a Thursday submit on X, additionally accused Barrera of blackmailing him. “I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED. Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death,” he wrote. The congressman included a screenshot of an e mail from Barrera providing to have interaction in settlement talks with a non-disclosure settlement – saying it’s not his intention to wreck the congressman’s profession by submitting a declare.
Barrera referred to as Gonzales’ submit “a desperate act by a desperate man.”
“The assertion of extortion is ridiculous,” he mentioned.