WASHINGTON — More Republicans are calling for Rep. Tony Gonzales to resign or drop his re-election bid — including some who took campaign donations from one of Gonzales’ affiliated PACs — after texts revealed the Texas Republican had an “affair” with a staffer who later fatally lit herself on fire.
Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) were among the first to call on Gonzales to step down following the release of “sexual” messages between their House colleague and his late regional director Regina Santos-Aviles.
“He’s a disgusting pig. The speaker should do something about it,” Boebert told CNN Wednesday.
“It’s obviously going to be something that will likely impact our margins, but I don’t make an excuse for what he did and I would encourage him to consider resigning,” added Luna.
“Given what I’ve seen so far, he should resign,” Mace agreed.
Mace and Luna have received $20,000 and $1,000, respectively, from Honor Courage Commitment PAC, which was first designated as Gonzales’ leadership committee in 2021, according to federal campaign finance filings.
Those donations were made between September 2021 and June 2023, well before the House Republican’s purported tryst with Santos-Aviles was publicly reported.
In total, the Gonzales-affiliated PAC has forked over more than $450,000 to other House GOP campaigns since 2020, Federal Election Commission records show.
Several of those contributions have gone toward members defending vulnerable seats in November.
Last year, Honor Courage Commitment gave $10,000 to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), $5,000 to Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) and $2,000 to Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) — all three of whom are in districts labeled toss-ups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Those donations were also made before news of Gonzales’ alleged infidelity broke.
“We have a young lady who died tragically,” De La Cruz told the Texas Tribune Tuesday. “Let’s keep in mind that she’s a mother of a young child, she’s a wife, a daughter, [iwth] parents who love her so much and I’m sure miss her. That case has gone to the Ethics Committee, and I believe that’s where it needs to be processed.”
Additionally, fellow Texas GOP Rep. Michael McCaul’s campaign took $5,000 from the same leadership PAC in November 2025 — two months after Santos-Aviles died by self-immolation and one month after the Daily Mail reported on rumors of the affair.
“Everybody’s entitled to due process. There’s an ethics investigation; there’s a lawsuit,” McCaul, who announced in September that he would not seek re-election, told reporters Wednesday. “The truth’s going to come out one way or another. I hope it’s not true, but it’s a very sad thing.”
Reps. Keith Self (R-Texas) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) joined the chorus demanding Gonzales either resign or drop out of his primary race on Wednesday.
Gonzales, who is married with six children, has said he will not step down and accused Santos-Aviles’ widower Adrian Aviles of trying to “blackmail” him over the text messages.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called the allegations “very serious” but said ethics investigations should play out first.
The Office of Congressional Conduct began probing Gonzales this past November and may refer its findings to the House Ethics Committee, which could elect to impose punishments on Gonzales if he’s found to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a staffer.
Mace told NBC News Wednesday that she plans to force a vote on a new resolution ordering the release of all sexual misconduct and harassment reports pertaining to members of Congress.
Gonzales engaged in an extramarital relationship with Santos-Aviles in May 2024, according to her husband, a former colleague and text messages obtained by The Post.
“[S]end me a sexy pic,” he asked her in one message shortly after midnight on May 9, 2024.
“This is too far, Tony,” she replied after he pressed her on her preferred sexual positions. “[G]o to sleep are you sure your [sic] sober.”
Another text exchange with a now-former colleague in April 2025 showed Santos-Aviles admitting to the “affair.”
“During my six years in Congress not a single formal complaint has been levied against my office. Now days away from an election, coordinated political attacks reign [sic] in. IT WONT WORK,” the congressman posted Sunday on X.
Santos-Aviles, 35, doused herself in gasoline and ignited it on Sept. 13, 2025, passing away the next day of her injuries.
Police reports revealed that she had been “taking antidepressants” and imbibing alcohol in the weeks leading up to the tragedy, but her husband maintained in an interview with The Post earlier this month that Santos-Aviles “was a completely stable … mentally sane person before all of this.”
“I knew Regina before and after this affair,” the ex-colleague also said. “Before she was normal, calm, and happy. After she was the opposite of all those things.”
Reps for Luna, Mace, McCaul, Miller Meeks, De La Cruz and Nunn did not respond to requests for comment.
