As Rep. Tony Gonzales prepares to face Republican primary voters in Texas on March 3, the Office of Congressional Conduct has conducted — and concluded — an investigation into an alleged affair between Gonzalez and a former staffer who died by suicide in September.
Two sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that the probe has wrapped up, but the OCC cannot transmit its report to the House Ethics Committee within a 60-day window before an election involving a member of Congress in the investigation.
But the allegation regarding Gonzales and his former regional district director, Regina Santos-Aviles, has roiled the final days of the congressman’s primary in West Texas’ 23rd District.
The congressman had previously denied the affair months ago, but his new statements in response to questions avoid addressing the allegation. His office did not respond to repeated requests from NBC News to clarify whether he stands by that past denial, and he did not respond to a request for comment on the OCC investigation.
Instead, Gonzales has framed the allegations as politically motivated, as his most prominent primary opponent, Brandon Herrera, calls for him to resign and claims the alleged affair broke ethics rules. The congressman has also accused the woman’s husband and the husband’s lawyer of blackmail.
“It’s shameful that Brandon Herrera is using a disgruntled former staffer to smear her memory and score political points, conveniently pushing this out the very day early voting started,” Gonzales said in a statement. “I am not going to engage in these personal smears and instead will remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”
Herrera called for Gonzales to resign in a statement and has argued the Republican Party could pay a political price if he wins re-nomination.
A new ad from Herrera’s campaign blasts Gonzales for “an affair that puts Republicans at risk of losing this seat and handing control of Congress to the Democrats.”
“That’s a risk we can’t afford. In the March 3rd Republican primary, vote for the pro-Trump Republican who can keep this seat,” the ad’s narrator says.
Meanwhile, Gonzales wrote on X Thursday, “I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED. Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death,” including a photo that purports to be an email from a lawyer for his late staffer’s husband discussing a $300,000 non-disclosure agreement.
Bobby Barrera, the attorney for Adrian Aviles, the husband of Santo-Aviles, confirmed to NBC News that his client received a letter from the OCC in November. A source familiar with the investigation said at the time Aviles chose not to cooperate with their probe. He has now offered to participate, but it is too late because the investigation has concluded.
Punchbowl News was the first to report on the existence of the OCC investigation. The sources with knowledge of the OCC investigation say the report is expected to be transmitted to the committee the day after the Texas primary.
Gonzales, who is married, denied rumors he had been romantically involved with Santos-Aviles in the weeks after her death in September. But this week, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Santos-Aviles had mentioned having an affair with Gonzales in text messages with a former colleague who spoke to the news outlet anonymously. NBC News has not verified the text messages.
Barrera then told news outlets, including NBC News, that Aviles believed his wife had been having an affair with the congressman. The couple was estranged at the time of her death. Aviles subsequently told the Express-News that he discovered texts between his wife and the congresswoman that he said confirmed the affair. Barrera told NBC News they are working to release the text messages, but he and his client have not yet produced them.
Aviles responded to Gonzales' post on social media denying any blackmail, accusing the congressman of “deception,” and criticizing the congressman for calling for the release of the police report related to his wife’s death, warning that he doesn’t want their young son to ever come across “graphic material.”
“We have never blackmailed anyone. What we’ve seen instead is a consistent pattern of evasion, refusal to take accountability, and outright lies to protect your image,” Aviles wrote.
The Office of Congressional Conduct serves as an independent watchdog in the House of Representatives. Its board is made up of non-elected volunteers, including some former members of Congress. The body has no power to penalize members of Congress, but it conducts investigations and offers recommendations to the House Ethics Committee, which is comprised of sitting members and can choose to adopt or ignore their suggestions. The ethics committee can also use the OCC’s work to build its own investigations.
Gonzales, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, has crossed party lines on a handful of key votes, including one to establish an independent commission to investigate the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol and another supporting a bipartisan gun safety measure in the months after a mass shooting at an elementary school in his district.
Those votes drew the ire of conservative Republicans and fueled a 2024 primary challenge from Herrera, a pro-gun influencer. The challenger pushed Gonzales into a primary runoff that year, but he fell short of defeating Gonzales by just a few hundred votes in the head-to-head GOP contest.
