In a WTF & leave-god-out-of-your-abusive-misconduct social media post, #TonyGonzales wrote, “There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all … When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office.”

His message came hours after Rep #EricSwalwell, #Democrat of #California, announced his own intention to resign from #Congress amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted a fmr staff member.

#law #abuse #SexualAssault #RapeCulture #misogyny #power #AbuseOfPower

#TonyGonzales had been resisting calls to step down since earlier this year [& probably would have gotten away with it as a #Republican], when texts he’d sent to the female staff member, Regina Santos-Aviles, became public.

At first, it appeared that Gonzales would be able to remain in #Congress after he said that he would drop his bid for re-election. But after the accusations against #EricSwalwell came to light, pressure grew in Congress to push out both members, as well as others.

#misogyny

Ms. Santos-Aviles was working in #TonyGonzales’s #Uvalde office when he sent her “sexual texts” in 2024, acc/to her husband’s lawyer, Bobby Barrera, who reviewed the messages. Another worker in the Uvalde office shared a text exchange with The NYT in which Santos-Aviles told the co-worker of an “affair with our boss.”

Santos-Aviles killed herself in Sept 2025 by setting herself on fire, acc/to the Uvalde Police Dept, a horrific event that drew immediate scrutiny in the area.

#AbuseOfPower

#TonyGonzales initially denied a sexual relationship. But he admitted to the affair in March, one day after he was forced into a runoff election in the #Republican primary, calling it a “lapse in judgment” & a “mistake.” He maintained that he had nothing to do with Santos-Aviles’s death.

Gonzales was then accused of pursuing a 2nd staff member, whom he reportedly pressed for nude photographs & sex in 2020, acc/o explicit texts published by The San Antonio Express-News.

#law #abuse #RapeCulture