It’s not at all common for Republican members of Congress to call on one of their own to resign, especially given the GOP’s vanishingly small majority in the House. Yet, as the scandal surrounding Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales intensified this week, three of his party colleagues nevertheless called on the Texan to give up his seat.
For his part, Gonzales, who’s facing a tough primary challenge next week, spent Tuesday insisting that he will not resign. The pressure from within the party, however, has continued to grow: Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky became the fourth GOP member to call for Gonzales’ resignation. And when Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio was asked whether he supports Gonzales’ re-election, Jordan replied, “We were” supporting his candidacy.
His use of past tense was tough to miss.
But of particular interest was the perspective of the Republican who ostensibly leads the chamber and the House GOP conference. Politico reported:
Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier Tuesday he planned to meet with Gonzales. Asked several times in a Capitol hallway if Gonzales should run for reelection under the circumstance, he replied, ‘I haven’t met with him yet.’
Strictly speaking, that wasn’t quite right. One day earlier, during a Capitol Hill press conference, Johnson was pressed on the Gonzales scandal, and the Louisiana Republican conceded that the underlying allegations are “serious.” Johnson added that he spoke to Gonzales directly and urged him to address the controversy “in an appropriate way with his constituents.”
In other words, Johnson has met with Gonzales, and according to the speaker, the two specifically talked about the scandal threatening the Texas Republican’s career.
It’s hardly unreasonable to think Johnson would have an opinion about whether Gonzales should move forward with his electoral plans.
The underlying scandal reached new heights last week when The San Antonio Express-News, Gonzales’ hometown newspaper, reported on a text message from Regina Santos-Aviles, a former aide to the congressman, who said she had an extramarital affair with Gonzales. Santos-Aviles died by suicide last year.
While these allegations against the Texas Republican have come up before, and Gonzales, a married father of six, has long denied any wrongdoing, the Express-News reported that a second former aide to the congressman came forward to say that Santos-Aviles told him about the relationship. That same aide (who asked not to be named by the Express-News, citing a fear of retaliation) provided a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she said she “had an affair with our boss.” (He shared the same evidence with The New York Times.)
This week, however, a lawyer for Santos-Aviles’ husband disclosed additional, sexually explicit text messages that the GOP congressman allegedly sent to his former aide. While MS NOW has not independently verified the authenticity of the texts, they were reviewed in detail by the Times, the Express-News, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Politico and The Texas Tribune.
Gonzales, meanwhile, has continued to say very little about the controversy ahead of next week’s primary. Though he’s long denied having a sexual relationship with his former aide, Gonzales has recently accused his primary rival, YouTube personality Brandon Herrera, and Santos-Aviles’ husband of trying to blackmail him.
As for Donald Trump, the president formally endorsed Gonzales last week, and to date, his support for the incumbent lawmaker remains intact.
This piece updates our related earlier coverage.
