Republican Tony Gonzales to step down from Congress amid expulsion threat

Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, announced on Monday he was stepping down from Congress after acknowledging an extramarital affair with a staffer.Gonzales, who was facing a growing threat of expulsion by his colleagues, admitted last month that he had an affair with an aide who later died by suicide.“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales wrote on X.His announcement came hours after Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative, said he was resigning from Congress following multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.Gonzales spoke publicly of the affair after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into his conduct. Bipartisan leaders of that committee said at the time that a panel would investigate whether the congressman, now in his third term, had engaged in sexual misconduct toward one of his employees and whether he had engaged in discriminatory practices.His former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, died by suicide in September 2025 at her home in Uvalde, Texas, at age 35.In an interview with a conservative media personality, during which Gonzales admitted to the affair, the representative said he had not spoken with Santos-Aviles for a year before her death. He said he had “absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing”, saying of the affair: “I made a mistake – I had a lapse in judgment and it was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions … Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.”After the allegations became public last month, Gonzales announced he was ending his re-election campaign, but said would serve out the rest of his term.It’s unclear if his retirement would be effective immediately this week. His spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry.After Santos-Aviles’s death, her husband shared text messages with the Texas-tribune" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="107658" data-entity-type="organization">Texas Tribune and San-Antonio Express that allegedly showed the congressman had asked Santos-Aviles for a “sexy pic”, and that at one point, she responded that he was going “too far”. The congressman did not comment on the texts to those outlets at the time, but accused a lawyer for Santos-Aviles’ widow of “trying to shake me down” for money.The lawyer for Santos-Aviles’s husband said the congressman was mischaracterizing his client’s legitimate claim under the Congressional Accountability Act, which stipulates penalties for workplace mistreatment.Gonzales’s departure from Congress comes after Teresa Leger Fernández, a Democratic representative, said she would introduce a resolution to remove him from his seat, saying in an earlier statement: “Gonzales and Swalwell are not fit to serve in Congress given their sexual transgressions against women who work for them. They should resign or be expelled.”Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida who was leading calls to expel Swalwell, told Politico earlier that she would vote to expel Gonzales.Before his resignation, Swalwell had suspended his campaign for governor of California after the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the account of a former staffer who said he had sexually assaulted her.