US Rep. Tony Gonzales and conservative activist Brandon Herrera will advance to a runoff within the Republican main for Texas’ twenty third District, NCS’s Decision Desk projects, prolonging a contentious marketing campaign wherein Gonzales denied allegations that he had an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide.
It’s a rematch from two years in the past, when Gonzales beat Herrera in a runoff by simply 354 votes out of practically 30,000. But this time, the marketing campaign was upended by the allegations Gonzales had an affair with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, the previous staffer, who died in September. A county health worker dominated that she died of self-immolation and listed her method of dying as suicide.
The controversy gained traction within the ultimate weeks earlier than the first amid a strain marketing campaign from Herrera and new revelations from Adrian Aviles, the husband of the late staffer.
Text messages offered to NCS by Adrian Aviles present that Gonzales despatched lewd messages to Santos-Aviles, together with one alternate asking for a “sexy pic.” In an interview with NCS’s Erin Burnett final week, Aviles referred to as the congressman a “predator” and stated that “he’s continued to lie to the American people, his constituents.”
He faces mounting calls from a few of his GOP colleagues to step down. “A male harassing a female employee, I just can’t stomach it, dude. I’ve got a wife and a daughter. He needs to go,” Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told NCS’s Manu Raju.
Gonzales has stated he received’t resign.
“There will be an opportunity for all the details and facts to come out,” he told NCS final week. “What you’ve seen is not all the facts. And there will be ample time for all of that to come out.”
He accused Adrian Aviles and his legal professional of blackmailing him, claims the legal professional, Bobby Barrera, denied.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has additionally up to now declined to again calls for Gonzales’ resignation, although he conceded the accusations have been “very serious” and stated that he has urged the San Antonio Republican to handle them along with his constituents immediately.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has not withdrawn his endorsement of Gonzales, made final December, although Trump notably left Gonzales off a record of his Texas endorsements posted on social media final week. Still, the president shouted out the congressman at an occasion in Corpus Christi, Texas, final Friday, remarking, “Tony, congratulations.”
Herrera has used the controversy to increase questions on Gonzales’ character and electability. Some Texas Republicans allied with Herrera supported his calls for Gonzalez’s resignation, together with state Rep. Wes Virdell, whose district shares territory with the twenty third.
Pressing the assault, Herrera has leveraged a giant social media following cultivated over years of conservative commentary, significantly on gun rights. His username on X is “TheAKGuy,” and he boasts greater than 4 million subscribers to his channel on YouTube, that includes a whole bunch of firearm opinions relationship again to 2025.
“These texts are disgusting,” Herrera wrote on X last month, reacting to revelations about Gonzales’ textual content message to Santos-Aviles. “The question is, will Tony finally admit he’s been lying this whole time? Or will he double down even though there is now undeniable proof?”