The embattled Republican, who admitted to having an affair with a staffer who later died, said Monday in a social media post that “God has a plan for us all.”
SAN ANTONIO — Embattled U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, the Texas Republican who dropped his reelection bid after admitting to an affair with a former staffer, submitted a formal notice of resignation to Congress on Tuesday afternoon.
The resignation is effective at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Moments later, Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell of California also submitted notice that he would resign as a member of Congress at 1 p.m. CT; Swalwell has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
Both lawmakers were facing possible expulsion votes, potentially as early as this week.
Gonzales has been under pressure after initially denying reports that he had an affair with Regina Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide outside her Uvalde home in September. In March, amid revelations that he had sent Santos-Aviles lewd texts in 2024, he appeared on an online talk show where he said he had “a lapse in judgement.”
The three-term congressman dropped his reelection bid that same week; he had been set to face Brandon Herrera in a Republican Primary runoff battle in May.
Gonzales, a married U.S. Navy veteran who has represented the district since 2021, said Monday afternoon in a post on X that he was planning “to file my retirement from office.”
It’s unclear at this point if Republican leaders will call a special election to temporarily fill the U.S. House District 23 seat, which is the biggest in Texas and spans from west San Antonio to El Paso.
What’s next?
While California Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued a proclamation calling for a special election in August, Gov. Greg Abbott as of Tuesday has not announced whether he plans to follow suit.
Trinity University political science professor Austin Bussing said timing of Abbott calling a special election could be critical. If Abbott called a special election tomorrow for example, Bussing said there’s a required 36-day window until the actual election can be held.
“If we assume that a Democrat will win that election to replace Swalwell, there might be some pressure on Gov. Abbott to try get this seat filled with presumably a Republican. Now there’s no guarantee that a Republican would win a special election,” Bussing said. “Because that’s already less than 36 days away or fewer than 36 days away, the next uniform election date would be the Nov. 3 general election.”
But Bussing stressed Abbott also has the power to summon an emergency special elections before November.
“The governor has some discretion to call an emergency special election, which could be earlier than November as long as it’s on a Tuesday or a Saturday at least 36 days after the call for an election.”
Abbott issued an emergency special election in 2018 following the vacancy of Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold who faced sexual harassment allegations. There was also an emergency special election in 2022 when Democratic Rep. Filemón Vela decided to pursue a different career.
A scandal’s fallout
Attention turned to Gonzales after police responded to Santos-Aviles’ home last September, where they later determined she had set herself on fire.
According to documents tied to the investigation, Uvalde PD officers responded to Santos-Aviles’ home and found her “with severe burn injuries covering her body.”
“(Santos-Aviles) stated she discovered her husband was cheating on her with her best friend, and as a result, she poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire,” the report states. Investigators later obtained footage that showed her “pouring gasoline onto her chest area.”
Regina’s husband, Adrian Aviles, alleged that Gonzales and his estranged wife had an affair. His lawyer, Bobby Barrera, claimed Aviles’ actions were not politically motivated, pointing out that another ex-staffer had already made the allegations public through another San Antonio news outlet.
“Adrian’s goal was never to destroy the career of Tony Gonzales. It’s never to destroy his political aspirations. Adrian’s goal was to get Tony to acknowledge the truth and to make an admission as a man that he made some poor decisions in his manipulation of Regina into this sexual relationship as her boss,” Barrera said.
Cell phone records provided to KENS 5 later revealed that Gonzales sent Santos-Aviles an early morning text in May 2024, asking her to “send me a sexy pic.”
“I’m just such a visual person,” Gonzales texted Santos-Aviles, who was married at the time, at 12:27 a.m. on May 9, 2024.
“This is going too far boss,” she messaged him later in the conversation, when Gonzales texted about a sexual fantasy involving Santos-Aviles.
When Gonzales pried about other sex acts, Santos-Aviles texted again: “This is too far, Tony.”