House GOP Leadership Demands Gonzales Drop Re-Election Bid Over Affair With Aide Who Lit Herself on Fire

The top four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are urging Congressman Tony Gonzales to give up his re-election bid after he admitted to having an affair with an aide who later committed suicide. Mr. Gonzales is set to compete in a runoff primary in May after failing to win a majority of the vote on Tuesday night. With the Republican majority in the House at just two seats, leadership cannot afford to lose any more members. If Mr. Gonzales were to leave before the end of his term, Republicans would be unable to pass a single piece of a party-line legislation without every GOP lawmaker on board. Mr. Gonzales’ resignation would effectively make a maverick Republican, Congressman Thomas Massie, the deciding vote on all things. After Mr. Gonzales admitted to the affair on Wednesday night, House Republicans’ top leaders — the speaker, the majority leader, the majority whip, and the conference chairwoman — said that they have asked him to quit his re-election campaign. “The Ethics Committee has announced an investigation into Congressman Tony Gonzales’s conduct, and we urge them to act expeditiously. 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,” the four leaders said in a joint statement. “In the meantime, Leadership has asked Congressman Gonzales to withdraw from his race for re-election,” they wrote. Leaders had been slow to directly criticize Mr. Gonzales after text messages were disclosed last month showing he had sexually harassed a female aide via text message and later had an affair with her. After that aide, Regina Aviles, left Mr. Gonzales’ office and returned to Texas, she committed suicide by lighting herself on fire. When the text messages first came out, Speaker Mike Johnson expressed concern about the matter, and called the alleged behavior “detestable.” He said, however, that an investigation should be conducted by the Office of Congressional Conduct and the House Ethics Committee.That changed after Mr. Gonzales admitted to the affair Wednesday night, providing Republican leadership with grounds to cut him loose. Mr. Gonzales made the admission on the Joe Pages Show, a syndicated radio program recorded in his hometown of San Antonio.“I had a lapse in judgment,” Mr. Gonzales said on the show. “Since then, I have reconciled with my wife.” The congressman added that he looked forward to an Ethics Committee investigation, saying, “I appreciate the opportunity to provide all the facts and all the details that led to, exactly, what occurred in the entire situation.”Two of Mr. Gonzales’ Republican colleagues — Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and Mr. Massie — have said Mr. Gonzales ought to resign. About half a dozen other GOP members began calling for Mr. Gonzales to quit his re-election campaign last month, when the text messages were first disclosed. Mr. Gonzales says he will not resign, citing the “slim majority” in the Republican-led House. “Those that are asking me not to do my job are the ones that want to see the Republicans fail here in Congress,” Mr. Gonzales told the Joe Pages Show on Wednesday.

House GOP Leadership Demands Gonzales Drop Re-Election Bid Over Affair With Aide Who Lit Herself on Fire

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