Republican Representative Gonzales to end re-election bid after sex allegations

U.S.RepresentativeTonyGonzales, a TexasRepublican,will notseekre-election, he said on Thursday, following calls from topHouseRepublicans to drop hisbiddue toallegationsthat he had an affair with a former staff member who later died by suicide.

“Afterdeepreflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seekre-electionwhile serving out therest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,”Gonzalessaid in a post on X.

A congressional ethics panel had onWednesdayannounced it would investigate theallegationsagainstGonzales.

“Leadership has asked CongressmanGonzalesto withdraw from his race forre-election,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson and three members of his leadership team, in a joint statement.

Gonzaleshad agreed to cooperate fully with the House Ethics Committee probe into what they described as “very seriousallegations,” said the group statement, co-signed by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, No. 3RepublicanTom Emmer and HouseRepublicanConference Chair Lisa McClain.

The TexasRepublican, who has acknowledged a “mistake” and “lapse in judgment,” is also facing possible legislative action from fellowRepublicanAnna Paulina Luna of Florida, who filed two measures on Wednesday to censurehim and strip him of his committee assignments.

Leadership’s statement comes two daysafterthe 45-year-old three-term congressman was forced into aprimary runoffin May againstRepublicanchallenger Brandon Herrera, a gun rights advocateendorsed by the hardline House Freedom Caucus.

The ethics committee said on Wednesday that it would investigateGonzalesto determine whether he “engaged insexual misconduct towards an individual employee in his congressional office and/or discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.”

Several other HouseRepublicans had called forGonzalestoresign or drop out of the campaignafterthe San Antonio Express-News published explicit text messages from him to his then-staff memberRegina Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide last September.

Gonzalestrailed Herrera by less than 1,000 votesafterTuesday’s primary, with neither candidatereceiving the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. He defeated Herrera, a YouTube influencer known as “the AK Guy,”in the2024 primaryby only a few hundred votes.