Rep. Tony Gonzales will face one other spherical in his Republican main after he was pulled right into a runoff in Texas, NBC Information initiatives, following a marketing campaign formed by allegations that he had an affair with a staffer in his congressional workplace who died by suicide final 12 months.
Brandon Herrera, a pro-gun activist, superior to a one-on-one runoff in opposition to Gonzales for the Republican nomination after nobody within the main bought a majority. Herrera compelled Gonzales to a runoff in 2024, in his first bid for workplace, however fell just some hundred votes of toppling him.
Whereas Gonzales had an endorsement from President Donald Trump this time to assist him dangle on to his seat, his political standing took a significant hit after the affair allegation resurfaced final month.
Gonzales had denied having an affair with the previous staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles. However the allegations drew new consideration after Santos-Aviles’ widower publicly accused Gonzales. Information organizations, together with NBC Information, reported that Gonzales had despatched sexual textual content messages to Santos-Aviles.
Gonzales has not addressed the substance of the allegation because it resurfaced, and his workplace didn’t reply to repeated questions on whether or not he stands by his earlier denials. As an alternative, he has accused Herrera of stoking the allegations, which he has claimed are politically motivated, and accused Santos-Aviles’ widower and his lawyer of blackmailing him.
Two sources aware of the investigation instructed NBC Information final month that the Workplace of Congressional Conduct has completed a probe into the alleged affair, however Home guidelines prevented it from transmitting a report back to the Home Ethics Committee proper earlier than an election.
Gonzales, a former naval officer, was first elected in 2020 to characterize the sprawling twenty third Congressional District, which stretches greater than 800 miles alongside the southern border. He serves on the plum Home Appropriations Committee and crossed occasion traces on a handful of key votes — together with backing a bipartisan gun security measure after a mass taking pictures at an elementary faculty in Uvalde, Texas, in his district.
That vote and others, like backing an unbiased investigation into the 2021 Capitol riot and laws defending same-sex and interracial marriages, prompted criticism from the Texas Republican Occasion, in addition to from conservatives like Herrera, who has mentioned Gonzales’ voting document spurred him to run for Congress.
