Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters Tuesday morning that he plans to sit down with embattled Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales, who faces mounting calls from within his own party to resign over allegations of an affair with a former district staffer who later took her own life.
"I'll talk to Tony today," Johnson told Politico reporter Meredith Lee Hill.
The meeting comes after Johnson struck a more cautious tone just one day earlier, telling reporters Monday he didn't think "it's time" to call for Gonzales to step down. He urged patience instead.
"I think we have to wait for more of the facts to come out."
The facts already public are grim enough.
Gonzales is accused of having an affair with Regina Santos-Aviles, his former regional district director. The San Antonio Express-News obtained alleged text messages between the two from May 2024, in which Gonzales reportedly requested a "sexy pic" and asked about her "favorite" sexual position.
Santos-Aviles allegedly replied in one exchange:
"This is going too far boss."
That word, "boss," carries weight. This was not a relationship between equals. It was a congressman and his staffer, with all the power dynamics that arrangement implies. The texts were provided to the Express-News by Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles' widower.
On September 14, 2025, Regina Santos-Aviles committed suicide by setting herself on fire.
News 4 and Fox SA have also obtained a series of text messages related to the situation. No one should rush past the human devastation at the center of this story. Whatever the full picture turns out to be, a woman is dead, a family is shattered, and the man she worked for in Congress has serious questions to answer.
Multiple Republican members of Congress have already called for Gonzales to resign, The Daily Caller noted. The list is bipartisan in temperament if not in party, spanning populist firebrands and more conventional conservatives alike:
Mace has been the most vocal. In a long-form post on X Monday, she made her position unambiguous:
"Texans deserve a congressman who does not prey on women."
By Tuesday, she had moved beyond words. Mace announced she filed a resolution to publicly release all alleged sexual harassment violations by members of Congress. Not just Gonzales. All of them.
Mace framed her resolution as a response to something larger than one congressman's scandal. She pointed to the institutional rot that lets these situations fester in the first place.
"No one is held accountable here in Congress."
She went further, leveling a charge that should make members on both sides of the aisle uncomfortable: "Both sides protect each other."
That accusation stings because it rings true. Congress has a long and inglorious history of closing ranks when its members face misconduct allegations. Secret settlements paid with taxpayer money. Ethics investigations that drag on until the public loses interest. Quiet retirements dressed up as personal decisions. The pattern is well established, and voters are rightly sick of it.
What makes the Republican response here notable is the speed. There was no circling of wagons, no coordinated messaging operation to buy Gonzales time. Within days of the allegations gaining traction, five GOP members publicly demanded his resignation. That's not how Washington usually works.
The Speaker's position is understandable but precarious. Johnson holds a narrow majority, and every seat matters for the Republican legislative agenda. Calling for a member's resignation before all the facts emerge sets a precedent that could be weaponized later. His instinct toward caution is not unreasonable.
But caution has a shelf life. The alleged texts are specific. The woman at the center of the story is dead. The widower himself brought the messages to reporters. This is not an anonymous accusation from an unnamed source. It has names, dates, and words on a screen.
Johnson's meeting with Gonzales today will reveal whether the Speaker views this as a situation to manage or a situation to resolve. The distinction matters. Managing it means buying time. Resolving it means making a decision that prioritizes institutional credibility over one member's career.
Gonzales has not publicly commented on the allegations based on available reporting. The Caller reached out to Johnson's office for comment but did not receive a response before publication. Silence, at this stage, is its own kind of statement.
Mace's resolution to release all sexual harassment violations could reshape the conversation entirely. If it gains traction, the Gonzales situation becomes less about one man and more about a system that has shielded misconduct for decades.
That's a fight worth having, regardless of which names end up on the list.
Republicans have spent years arguing that they are the party of accountability, the party that doesn't tolerate the kind of institutional corruption that Democrats excuse or ignore. This is where that claim gets tested. Not in a press release. Not in a campaign ad. In a hallway conversation between a Speaker and a member whose conduct may have contributed to a woman's death.
