A newly revealed 2024 text exchange appears to show that Rep. Tony Gonzales encouraged one of his aides to send him an explicit photo — leading the aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, to push back. Just over a year later, the staffer died after setting herself on fire.
The texts have drawn additional scrutiny to the Texas Republican, who is now facing bipartisan criticism over his alleged affair with Santos-Aviles. An attorney for the staffer’s husband alleged to CBS News last week that Gonzales coerced Santos-Aviles into a sexual relationship. Gonzales has denied the affair in the past, and has claimed he is being extorted.
CBS News has obtained a set of texts that were extracted from Santos-Aviles’ phone that show a conversation between Gonzales and the late staffer.
In the exchange, which took place after midnight in early May 2024, Gonzales asked for a “sexy pic.” After a back-and-forth, Santos-Aviles said she didn’t like taking photos of herself. He responded in a pair of texts: “I’m just such a visual person” and “Sorry.”
The congressman then asked Santos-Aviles what her “favorite position” is. She asked him to answer first, and he did.
The aide then texted: “This is going too far boss. So how long have you thought I was this hot?”
After another back-and-forth, Santos-Aviles said again: “This is too far, Tony.”
Santos-Aviles later said to Gonzales: “Please tell me you didn’t just hire me because I was hot.”
“No way,” Gonzales writes.
Several weeks after that exchange, Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, learned about their alleged relationship, he previously told the San Antonio Express-News.
Then, the following month, Aviles appeared to send a text from Santos-Aviles’ phone to Gonzales and several other staffers in his office. In that message, he wrote that he’d discovered “she’s been having an affair on me with your boss Tony Gonzales for some time now.”
Aviles’ lawyer, Bobby Barrera, told CBS News last week that Santos-Aviles’ mental health declined sharply following the end of her alleged relationship with Gonzales — something he blamed on the congressman’s conduct.
Santos-Aviles died in September 2025 after she was found critically burned near her home in Uvalde, Texas, according to the local police department. The Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide, according to CBS affiliate KENS.
The circumstances leading up to her suicide are not clear.
In an interview with CBS News on Monday, Aviles said he wants to rebut Gonzales’ denials of the affair and to demonstrate that “this is not something that’s been fabricated.”
“You ended a family because of your predatorial instincts,” said Aviles, who has an 8-year-old son with Santos-Aviles.
The new details about Gonzales’ alleged relationship are coming to light as the congressman fights for reelection. His district along the U.S.-Mexico border is considered a safe GOP seat, but Gonzales is facing a primary challenge next week from gun rights activist Brandon Herrera, who lost to Gonzales by fewer than 400 votes in 2024. President Trump has endorsed Gonzales. Herrera called for Gonzales to step down last week.
A handful of congressional Republicans criticized Gonzales after the 2024 text exchange emerged on Monday.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado urged Gonzales to resign and suggested that House Republicans’ campaign arm should start financially supporting Herrera. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina also said Monday that Gonzales should resign, calling the allegations “deeply disturbing” and an “abuse of power.” And former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called the story “shocking and disgusting.”
Herrera also drew endorsements Monday from Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and the Freedom Caucus Fund, a political action committee aligned with members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus. Neither endorsement mentioned Gonzales.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday that the allegations against Gonzales are “very serious,” but he said “you have to allow investigations to play out.”
Gonzales denied having an affair in November, saying in a panel event at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin that the “rumors are completely untruthful.”
The congressman also accused Barrera of trying to blackmail him last week. He shared on X a screenshot of a letter from Barrera in which the lawyer appears to propose a $300,000 legal settlement with a non-disclosure agreement.
“Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death,” Gonzales wrote.
Barrera denied that allegation, claiming to CBS News last week that it was actually a standard confidential settlement letter sent to the congressman’s attorney.
Aviles told CBS News, “This is not a ploy for money.”
CBS News has reached out to Gonzales’ office for comment.
Juliegrace Brufke and Anne Bryson contributed to this report.
