Overview
- Newly published messages obtained by the San Antonio Express-News appear to show Rep. Tony Gonzales asking his 2020 campaign’s political director for nude photos and sex.
- The messages, which the newspaper attributes to Gonzales’s phone number, include repeated requests and explicit language during his first run for Congress.
- The Express-News said it verified the sender’s number and the recipient’s campaign role using phone data and finance records, and Gonzales did not respond to its questions.
- The former aide, granted anonymity, told the paper no physical relationship occurred, a claim that adds context to scrutiny following his admitted 2024 affair with aide Regina Santos-Aviles, who died by self-immolation in 2025.
- Gonzales has ended his 2026 reelection bid after party blowback, and the House Ethics Committee continues to examine his conduct as Texas Republicans prepare to fill his spot on the ballot.