Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales is dealing with new allegations he sent a former campaign staffer lewd texts, simply weeks after revelations of his affair with one other former worker rocked and in the end ended his reelection bid.
The San Antonio Express-News on Monday revealed beforehand unreported texts that Gonzales allegedly sent the political director of his campaign in June 2020, throughout his first run for Congress. The texts, as revealed by the Express-News, included Gonzales asking the staffer “What kind of panties do you wear?,” repeatedly soliciting nude images from her, and describing how he needed to have intercourse along with her.
The report doesn’t determine the staffer, who informed the San Antonio Express-News the connection by no means turned bodily. NCS has not independently verified the textual content messages.
NCS has reached out to Gonzales’ workplace for remark. The congressman and his workplace didn’t reply to inquiries from the Express-News.
The allegations recommend Gonzales could have pursued a sexual relationship with an worker years earlier than a beforehand reported and separate affair in 2024 with a staffer – which runs afoul US House guidelines. The staffer later died by suicide. Though Gonzales has denied any connection along with her demise, the information of the affair spurred investigations into the congressman and requires him to resign his seat and finish his reelection campaign.
Last month, Gonzales acknowledged the affair with the district staffer, calling it “a lapse in judgment.” The staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, later died by self-immolation in what a county health worker’s workplace decided was suicide.
His admission of the affair adopted media experiences about different lewd textual content messages he was alleged to have sent to Santos-Aviles, together with one which confirmed Gonzales asking for a “sexy pic.”
NCS has reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s workplace for touch upon the newest allegations in opposition to the congressman.
Johnson and his management staff beforehand known as on Gonzales to drop his reelection bid amid the fallout from the initial allegations and an active ethics probe into them.
“The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge them to act expeditiously. Congressman Gonzales has said he will fully cooperate with the investigation,” the GOP leaders mentioned on the time.
“We have encouraged him to address these very serious allegations directly with his constituents and his colleagues. In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election,” they continued.
Gonzales in the end withdrew from the election however he has refused to resign his seat in the chamber’s slim majority – a transfer that even Republican congressional leaders have stopped wanting calling for.
With the House’s traditionally slim margin, GOP leaders can only afford a single defection from their ranks to move payments on a party-line vote. Johnson has firmly denied he’s selecting to hold Gonzales in Congress for the remainder of the yr solely due to that razor-thin vote math.