Tony Gonzales

Ernest Anthony Gonzales II (born October 10, 1980) is an American politician and United States Navy veteran who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district from 2021 until his resignation in April 2026. He is a member of the Republican Party.

A moderate Republican, Gonzales was censured by the Texas Republican Party in 2023 for voting in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. He is also one of 18 Republicans who voted against Jim Jordan's nomination for Speaker of the House all three times, and the only Republican to have voted against the House rules package afterwards. Gonzales's votes prompted several conservative primary challengers in 2024, most notably YouTuber Brandon Herrera, who forced a runoff after Gonzales received less than 50% of the vote. He won the runoff election with 50.7% of the vote.

In 2026, Gonzales initially ran for re-election. He faced and denied allegations of a sexual affair with a staffer who had later killed herself by self-immolation. After failing to secure more than 50% of the vote in the primary on March 3, he was set to face Brandon Herrera in a runoff scheduled for May 2026. On March 4, Gonzales admitted to the affair, dropping his re-election campaign amid pressure from party leadership the following day. On April 13, 2026, he resigned, effective the following day.

Early life and education Gonzales was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He earned an Associate of Arts from Chaminade University of Honolulu, a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior University, a graduate certificate in legislative studies from Georgetown University, and a Master of Arts from American Public University.

Early career From 1999 to 2019, Gonzales served in the United States Navy, retiring with the rank of master chief petty officer. A trained Cryptologist Interpretive (CTI), Gonzales was deployed as aircrew in VQ EP-3Es to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan receiving an air medal for his service. He was also stationed in Tampa, Florida; Pensacola, Florida; Kāneʻohe Bay; and San Antonio, and assigned to the United States Navy Office of Legislative Affairs.

Gonzales served as a Department of Defense fellow in the office of Senator Marco Rubio and also worked as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maryland Global Campus.

U.S. House of Representatives Elections

2020

Gonzales ran for Texas's 23rd congressional district in the 2020 election. The seat was open, as three-term Republican incumbent Will Hurd did not seek reelection. In the Republican primary, Gonzales narrowly defeated Raul Reyes after a recount. During the primary, Gonzales was endorsed by Hurd and President Donald Trump. In the November general election, Gonzales defeated Democratic nominee Gina Ortiz Jones. The result was considered an upset, as most forecasters believed that the Democrats were favored to flip the district after Hurd's retirement.

2022

Gonzales ran for re-election in 2022, winning his primary with 78% of the vote and the general election with 55.87% against Democrat John Lira and Independent candidate Frank Lopez Jr.

2024

Gonzales was reelected to a third term in 2024. Gonzales faced a strong primary challenge from Brandon Herrera. He won the Republican primary over his primary challenger Brandon Herrera by fewer than 400 votes with 50.6% of the ballots cast.

After facing down conservative opposition over his votes in Congress, Gonzales garnered 62.3% of the vote in the general election, defeating Democratic challenger Santos Limon by over 71,000 votes.

Like all other Senate and House Republicans, Gonzales voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

On May 19, 2021, Gonzales was one of 35 Republicans to join all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6, 2021 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

On March 4, 2023, the Texas Republican Party's executive committee censured Gonzales for failing to vote in line with the party positions, citing his decision to support the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Respect for Marriage Act (both in 2022) as well as his vote against a House rules packages passed after the contested 2023 Speaker election. Conservative representatives such as Matt Gaetz and Bob Good endorsed Brandon Herrera, a primary challenger to Gonzales for the 2024 election, whom Gonzales criticized during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union in April 2024. He called Republican hardliners "real scumbags" who "walk around with white hoods", and called his primary opponent a "neo-Nazi" and an "anarchist" intent on "burning the place down." This came after Gonzales voted in favor of three contentious foreign aid packages for Ukraine, Israel, and East Asia, all of which required bipartisan backing to move on.

Affair with political aide On February 17, 2026, the San Antonio Express-News published text messages allegedly from Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, a political aide to Gonzales, to another staffer. In the text messages from April 2025, A lawyer for Santos-Aviles's husband stated that her affair with Gonzales was an "open secret", and was not believed to have played a role in her suicide. The Daily Mail had previously reported on the alleged affair, though the story was denied by Gonzales at the time. Gonzales did not attend. while the San Antonio Express-News revoked their endorsement of Gonzales. The White House, which had endorsed Gonzales in the upcoming 2026 Republican primary, declined to comment. Following this, Republican House representatives including Lauren Boebert, Brandon Gill, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy variously called on Gonzales to resign or drop his re-election bid; as well as The Dallas Morning News. Conversely, Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as representatives Jim Jordan and Don Bacon

On March 4, 2026, Gonzales admitted for the first time, in an interview with Joe Pags, that he had an affair with Santos-Aviles. That same day, Rep. Luna filed two House resolutions to censure Gonzales or strip him of committee assignments.

On March 5, 2026, House GOP leadership (Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and House Republican Conference chairwoman Lisa McClain) released a joint statement in which they called for Gonzales to withdraw from his re-election campaign and stated that an investigation into Gonzales's conduct has begun. Later that same day, Gonzales ended his campaign.

On April 6, 2026, a second former staffer of Gonzales's accused him of sending her sexually explicit messages. According to text messages published by the San Antonio Express-News, Gonzales asked the second woman for nude photos, asked "What kind of panties do you wear?", and wrote that he wanted to have sex with her and have her "squeeze my balls."

On April 11, 2026, Axios reported that Representative Luna planned to force a vote of expulsion against Gonzales, as well as Democratic US Representative Eric Swalwell following his sexual assault allegations, within the next several days. Several House representatives from both parties including Byron Donalds, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, and Jared Huffman supported Luna's move.

Resignation On April 13, 2026, Gonzales resigned from Congress, effective the following day. His resignation will trigger a special election in which the winner will serve in the United States House of Representatives for the remainder of the 119th United States Congress.

Committee assignments Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Problem Solvers Caucus Republican Study Committee

Party leadership Assistant Republican Whip (2021–2026)

Political positions Abortion Gonzales describes himself as pro-life. He co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2021 (H.R. 18), which aims to codify the Hyde Amendment banning federal funding for abortions.

Foreign policy During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Gonzales signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Gonzales voted to support Israel following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Gonzales proposed a new Iranian Campaign Service Medal for Operation Midnight Hammer for the pilots and support personnel of the aircraft involved. In June 2025 he filed H.R. 4254 Iranian Campaign Medal Act that expanded eligibility to the entire Twelve-Day War.

Gun rights Gonzales supported amending the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to remove a proposed red flag law provision. He and other House Republicans signed a letter that argued the provision would infringe on Second Amendment rights and allow "military judges and magistrates to issue military court gun confiscation orders."

After the Robb Elementary School shooting in Gonzales's congressional district, Gonzales voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and cited his experience growing up in an abusive household (including an instance of his father threatening his mother with a gun) as his reason for supporting the act.

Immigration Gonzales supports keeping Title 42 expulsion in place and, along with senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra arguing that the removal of Title 42 would encourage illegal immigration at the southern border.

In 2022, Gonzales argued that while the Remain in Mexico policy enacted by the Trump administration had flaws, it had been an effective strategy to prevent illegal immigration and asylum fraud and that repealing laws on illegal immigration and off-soil asylum processing had led to cases such as the trailer deaths in San Antonio earlier that year. In response to the repeal of the Remain in Mexico policy under Biden, Gonzales called for an increase in immigration judges to process asylum cases "in days, not years." He supports the expansion and simplification of work visas to reform legal immigration.

LGBT issues On July 19, 2022, Gonzales and 46 other House Republicans voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act. It would require each state to recognize any marriage performed in another state, and codify same-sex marriage and Obergefell v. Hodges into federal law. It was signed into law by President Biden on December 13, 2022.

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 Gonzales was among 71 House Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

Personal life Gonzales and his wife, Angel, have six children. Angel served as the treasurer and custodian of records for Gonzales's campaign. He is Catholic.

Electoral history