Embattled Rep. Tony Gonzales heads to runoff with Brandon Herrera in Texas GOP primary
Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera speaks during a campaign rally at the Constantino S Pizza restaurant on February 26, 2026, in Somerset, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(TEXAS) — The Texas 23rd Congressional District race is projected to head to a runoff, as incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales, who was accused of having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, and conservative activist Brandon Herrera both failed to receive more than 50% of the vote.
With 94% of the expected vote reporting Wednesday morning, Herrera holds just about a 1-point advantage over Gonzales (roughly 43% to 42%).
Gonzales and Herrera previously went head-to-head in the 2024 Republican primary and similarly advanced to a runoff. Gonzales ultimately won by just 400 votes.
Tuesday’s primary election came as Gonzales battles calls from some House Republicans to resign amid allegations that he engaged in an extramarital affair with a congressional aide who died by suicide last fall. Gonzales has denied the allegations of the affair with the aide, Regina Santos-Aviles.
Asked recently if he had an extramarital affair with Santos-Aviles, Gonzales said “what you have seen is not all the facts.”
Text messages, provided to ABC News by Santos-Aviles’ widower, appear to show Gonzales pursuing a relationship with the former staffer. ABC News has reached out to Gonzales for a request for comment on the text messages.
In February, Gonzales told ABC News that “Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place.”
ABC News has also confirmed that Gonzales has been under investigation by the Office of Congressional Conduct, which has already completed its probe. Due to its rules, the OCC can’t transmit a report against a member of Congress 60 days prior to an election.
The runoff election is scheduled for May 26, which is more than 60 days away from the primary election.
On Wednesday, the House Ethics Committee announced that it started an investigative subcommittee to look into the allegations against Gonzales.
Gonzales has notably lost many endorsements in his bid for reelection as calls for his resignation continue. He said last month that he is “not going to resign.”
President Donald Trump had endorsed Gonzales prior to the allegations. Since then, the White House has not responded to ABC News’ questions about whether the president still supports Gonzales.
In a post on X reacting to the news of a runoff, Gonzales began by thanking the president and looking forward to a “victorious May.”
In a reply to Gonzales post, Herrera retorted: “Are you seriously congratulating yourself for not winning your primary?”
Herrera, a Second Amendment activist and social media personality, has also faced his share of controversy, including accusations that his YouTube videos allegedly featured Nazi-related imagery. In response, Herrera wrote in a social media post that “I am not, nor have I never been a neo-Nazi.”
Both candidates have sought to align themselves closely with the president.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, makes his way to House votes in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Embattled Rep. Tony Gonzales announced Thursday evening that he will no longer seek reelection in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, following calls from House Republican leadership to drop out of the race after the congressman admitted to having a relationship with a staffer.
“After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales wrote in a statement on X. “Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful.”
Gonzales’ statement touted various accomplishments from his three terms in Congress, with an emphasis on his “absolute dedication” to the U.S.
“My philosophy has never changed: do as much as you can, and always fight for the greater good,” he wrote.
Gonzales’ announcement came the same day House Republican leadership on Thursday asked Gonzales to drop out of the race.
“The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge them to act expeditiously,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican Whip Tom Emmer and Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain said in a joint statement.
“Congressman Gonzales has said he will fully cooperate with the investigation. We have encouraged him to address these very serious allegations directly with his constituents and his colleagues. In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election,” they added.
Johnson told reporters later that the GOP’s call for Gonzales to drop his reelection bid — rather than resign from Congress — amounts to “a death penalty” for Gonzales.
“Leadership put out a statement. It speaks for itself. We’ve encouraged him to drop out of the race for reelection,” Johnson said. “Politically, that’s a death penalty.”
Gonzales on Tuesday night advanced to a runoff primary election on May 26 against conservative activist Brandon Herrera.
The next day, Gonzales spoke with talk show host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo who asked if he had a relationship with his district director, Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide.
“Was there a relationship with this young lady, um, who was working in your office?” Pagliarulo asked Gonzales at the outset of the interview on Wednesday.
“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales answered. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has. And my faith is as strong as ever. When you make mistakes like this, you know, it’s never easy. It humbles you.”
Gonzales said he looks forward to the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into the allegations.
The panel said it has established an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations that Gonzales “may have: (1) engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual employed in his congressional office; and/or (2) discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to be able to provide all the facts and all the details that lead to exactly what occurred in the entire situation,” said Gonzales, who has declined to withdraw from his reelection bid.
The congressman had previously denied the relationship with Santos-Aviles.
Despite now admitting his relationship with her, Gonzales distanced himself from her death, claiming that he had not spoken with her since June of 2024, before she ultimately died the following year.
“You know, the facts are, I hadn’t spoken with Ms. Santos since June of 2024. She passed September of 2025. That was over a year ago. So, this is what I think is important as well — is this whole notion that I had anything to do with her death. I had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing. And in fact, I was shocked just as much as everyone else,” Gonzales said.
Congressional payroll records show that Santos-Aviles was still employed in Gonzales’ office on the date of her death, Sept. 14, 2025.
Gonzales insisted that Santos-Aviles was treated well in his office and showed no signs of distress leading up to her death, claiming that she was “thriving at work.”
“I’ve always highlighted the great work that she had done for our office and the community,” Gonzales said, before pinning blame on the media coverage of the matter.
ABC News previously obtained explicit text messages from May of 2024 appearing to show Gonzales repeatedly request photos and ask Santos-Aviles about her sexual preferences.
Asked by Pagliarulo about the text messages, Gonzales insisted that there is “a lot more to the story that isn’t out there,” without commenting further on the content of any other communications with Santos-Aviles.
Asked if he understands the issues surrounding a boss having a relationship with his subordinate, Gonzales acknowledged that it’s an “important” and “serious issue that we have to talk about,” before again emphasizing the need for “all the facts.”
ABC News has obtained the Uvalde police report on Santos-Aviles death through a records request, but the report has not been posted publicly.
During Wednesday’s interview, Gonzales brushed off concerns from fellow House Republicans that have called for his resignation, saying, “you’re always going to have political enemies.”
“I don’t speak with those two on a regular basis, that we operate in different … groups, if you will,” Gonzales said, referring to Republican Reps. Nancy Mace and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who have voiced concerns over the allegations against him. “But what I will say is you can never let those people slow you down in any form or fashion.”
Gonzales, who maintains President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite the allegations and ethics inquiry, said he has not spoken directly with Trump about the matter.
“I appreciate the president’s support,” Gonzales said.
“I was just actually in Corpus [Christi] when he came down to Texas. That was an incredible event. Everybody was energized,” Gonzales added, referring to the president’s trip last week where Trump gave the congressman a shoutout and congratulated him before the crowd.
Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson broke with President Donald Trump on his threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, saying in a podcast, “I hope and pray” he is “using this as bluster.”
“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure … We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them,” Johnson, a Trump ally who rarely breaks with the president, said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast out on Monday.
Johnson’s comments came after Trump has threatened to bomb bridges and power plants, which would be devastating for Iranian civilians. Some experts have warned that such actions could violate international law; many Democrats are saying it amounts to war crimes.
Trump has said that he will target those bridges and power plants in Iran if they don’t open up the critical Strait of Hormuz — giving Iran a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday to act.
Other lawmakers reacted to Trump’s social media post on Tuesday, hours ahead of his self-imposed deadline, in which he threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” although he said “I don’t want that to happen.”
This comes on the heels of an Easter Sunday social media post where Trump threatened “Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz weren’t opened up.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called President Trump an “extremely sick person” for threatening that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”
“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” Schumer said in a post on X.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also called on Republicans to act.
“Congress must immediately end this reckless war of choice in Iran before Donald Trump plunges us into World War III. It’s time for every single Republican to put patriotic duty over party and stop the madness. Enough,” Jeffries said in a statement posted on X.
ABC News has reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for comment.
Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to act as the war — now in its sixth week — continues.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Washington, called Trump’s threat “outrageous, dangerous, and unhinged.”
“Trump’s illegal war in Iran has already led to enormous death and destruction, including a school bombing that killed over 100 children. Congress must immediately act to rein him in before more people die,” Jayapal wrote in a post on X.
Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, of Illinois, said in a statement on X that Trump’s threat amounts to “mass murder” and that he is “urging every Cabinet Member and Republican leadership to call the President IMMEDIATELY.”
“The Iranian people do not deserve this,” Quigley wrote.
Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, of California, slammed Trump’s rhetoric, saying, “Threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization is dangerous beyond words, and hearing it from the person commanding our military should alarm every American.”
“This language is completely unacceptable from any president, let alone one who started this war without authorization from Congress and has no plan for what comes next,” Levin wrote.
Other conservative voices are breaking with Trump over his Iran threats.
Conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson offered scathing criticism of the president, blasting his recent threats toward Iran and specifically Trump’s profanity-laden threat to Iran on Easter Sunday.
“It is really the most real thing this president has ever done, and also the most revealing on every level. It is vile on every level,” Carlson said of Trump’s Sunday post during “The Tucker Carlson Show” on Monday.
Carlson scolded the president directly, saying, “how dare you speak that way,” adding that Trump’s post was a “mockery of Christianity.”
Trump fired back at Carlson in a social media post on Tuesday morning, calling him a “low IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Lauren Peller, Nicholas Kerr and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks to suppporters at a rally announcing his reelection bid at the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center on January 8, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a forthcoming memoir, claimed that the running mate vetting team for Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 run for the presidency asked him if he were ever an agent of the Israeli government, ABC News has confirmed.
Shapiro writes in his memoir “Where We Keep the Light,” which is set to be released on Jan. 27, that he was asked last minute by Dana Remus, a former White House counsel and member of the vetting team, if he had ever been an agent for Israel. He said that told Remus he found the question offensive, according to excepts reported by The New York Times.
He wrote that he was also asked by Remus if he ever spoke with an undercover Israeli agent, to which Shapiro said he responded in part, that if they had been undercover, “how the hell would I know?”
Shapiro wrote in his memoir that he understood Remus had to do her job, but criticized the line of questioning, according to the excerpts.
Shapiro — who is Jewish and has been outspoken about his religion, as well as his support of Israel and criticism of the current Israeli government — said he was also asked more general vetting questions about Israel and his handling of campus protests about Gaza.
“I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” Shapiro wrote, according to the excepts.
ABC News has reached out to spokespeople for Shapiro and Harris, and to Remus about the questions she allegedly asked Shapiro.
While Shapiro was a reported contender for Harris’ running-mate spot, amid major debates within the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war and the U.S.-Israel relationship given Israel’s conduct in Gaza, he faced scrutiny from progressives over his pro-Israel views, as well as some previous time spent volunteering in Israel, including on an Israeli army base.
He also faced questions over his college writing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where he expressed doubts that Palestinians could come to a peace agreement with Israel.
Shapiro and his spokespeople said at the time that his time volunteering did not include military activity, and that his views on the conflict had evolved to support a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The vetting process for running mates is known to be intensive and often tries to get ahead of questions that may be asked publicly of candidates.
Harris, in her memoir “107 Days,” wrote that during the vetting process for running mates, she spoke with Shapiro “about how to handle the attacks he’d confronted on Gaza and what effect it might have on the enthusiasm we were trying to build,” and that they discussed the opinion piece Shapiro wrote in college.
“He said he felt he’d been able to deal with critics by stating clearly that his youthful opinion had been misguided and that he was fully committed to a two-state solution. He had also publicly called Netanyahu ‘one of the worst leaders of all time,'” Harris wrote.
She also framed the decision against Shapiro as more about his ambition and fears that he would be frustrated with the vice presidential role — claims Shapiro has rebuffed. Shapiro campaigned as a Harris surrogate even after not getting the running-mate nod.
Some Jewish officials who served in President Joe Biden and Harris’ administration have slammed the alleged vetting question, saying that it ties into antisemitic tropes that American Jews have dual loyalties between the United States and Israel.
Aaron Keyak, former deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism at the State Department and a board member of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told ABC News on Monday that he was surprised at “how blatant the rhetoric was when it comes to playing into antisemitic tropes.”
“What’s even the point of asking that question in that way? Were they trying to send some sort of message to Gov. Shapiro? Were they trying to intimidate him?” Keyak said.
Keyak, who is Jewish, said he had also been asked questions during the vetting process for his own Biden administration State Department role that he later heard non-Jewish appointees were not. He said he was not able to share the specifics of the questions, but that the implications of the questions were similar to what Shapiro had allegedly been asked.
