Republicans Don’t Know How to Talk About Scandal When It Threatens Their Majority

Hours before President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill to deliver his State of the Union address, House Republicans were eager to talk with reporters about their affordability agenda, the message they insist will safeguard their majority in November.

Instead, they found themselves talking about a salacious scandal involving a colleague.

“The reality is we shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of stuff,” Rep. Brandon Gill told NOTUS.

The House GOP’s infighting has roared back into focus after lewd text messages allegedly from Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales were made public Monday, revealing that the Texas lawmaker allegedly solicited explicit photographs from a former aide, Regina Santos-Aviles. The aide died last year after setting herself on fire, and her widower has publicly accused the congressman of having an affair with his wife, bringing national attention.

A handful of House Republicans have called for Gonzales to resign, and some have endorsed his conservative primary challenger, right-wing influencer Brandon Herrera. Speaker Mike Johnson has struck a more diplomatic tone, saying that he is monitoring the situation and would speak with Gonzales. Gonzales said Tuesday he does not plan to resign.

House Democrats are also dealing with questions about one of their own battling misconduct. But, for now, only House Republicans are walking the precarious political tightrope of how to handle the accusations against them while retaining the integrity of their one-vote majority.

“I do suspect that Speaker Johnson is staying ambiguous on Tony Gonzales because he’s worried about the majority,” Rep. Thomas Massie, who called on Gonzales to resign, told NOTUS in an interview.

That dynamic led to a palpable discomfort within the House GOP Tuesday. It’s not just Gonzales; a few lawmakers called recently for other colleagues facing allegations of impropriety to resign in disgrace. But most in the GOP conference have chosen to keep their heads down, avoiding any association with the untoward dramas unspooling all around them. Even more spent the day breathlessly trying to change the conversation back to their party’s economic message.

The bottom line: It’s getting awkward in the House Republican Conference.

“Staying in the race puts that seat in jeopardy in a general election, but it also brings moral opprobrium to the rest of the Republican conference,” Gill, who has called for Gonzales to withdraw his campaign, told NOTUS.

“I mean, this is about as bad as bad gets as a scandal,” he continued. “And I think that the rest of the world recognizes that — certainly the rest of the country — and I think we as a conference, should, too.”

Republicans are grappling with damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t politics. If the House GOP takes action against Gonzales, like encouraging his resignation or attempting an expulsion vote, they risk losing their one-seat majority this year. But if they refuse to discipline a lawmaker for alleged inappropriate behavior with an aide, they endanger losing their majority to Democrats next year, after the midterms.

For that reason, Massie said that Johnson should call Gonzales to resign.

“He may keep the majority from getting slimmer,” Massie said. “But he’s going to lose the majority in the fall [if he doesn’t.]”

He added: “Until we have an ethics investigation, I’m not saying he should be expelled. I’m saying, for the good of our party, he should step down.”

Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called the allegations “awful” and “very serious,” but said, “I’m not going to get ahead of the speaker.” The district voted for Trump in 2024, but it is a diverse voting bloc with a substantial Latino voting population. The House Republicans’ campaign arm has supported Gonzales in his primary.

“I think he’s been very clear that Tony needs to respond to those allegations,” Hudson said. “He needs to communicate with his constituents back home. There’s, I believe, the ethics investigation underway with the [Office of Congressional Conduct]. So we’ll, as the speaker said, let that process play out.”

If Gonzales does step down from his seat, Republicans would essentially have a zero-vote margin, making it incredibly difficult to pass legislation. If he decides not to run for reelection, Herrera, who has run against Gonzales before and lost, is a much more conservative Republican endorsed by House Freedom Caucus members and could have a tough time winning the seat in a district that Trump won by only a handful of points in November.

Gonzales is one of several House Republicans under scrutiny for alleged wrongdoing this year. Rep. Nancy Mace has tried to censure fellow Republican Rep. Cory Mills over domestic violence claims, among other sordid allegations. Reps. Mike Collins and Andy Ogles are also facing Ethics Committee reviews for potentially misusing congressional or campaign resources.

Even more Republicans are enduring internal backlash for reportedly unseemly behavior, like Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who Punchbowl News reported was banned from international travel for three months by leadership after an alcohol-related incident during an official congressional visit to Mexico.

Mace, who has called for Gonzales’ resignation, introduced legislation Tuesday to compel the Ethics Committee to release “records and reports on all of their investigations into Members of Congress for sexual harassment and unwelcome sexual advances.”

“Tony Gonzales is just the tip of the iceberg,” she wrote on X.

With the Republican Party’s focus on Christian values and principles, it’s been difficult for these lawmakers to defend their colleagues’ behavior when they publicly tout a commitment to a certain lifestyle and morality.

“A lot of people think they’re bulletproof, and they’re not,” Rep. Don Bacon told NOTUS in a brief interview Tuesday. “There’s a reason that we have the Bible. We should live by it, right?”

Six Republicans have called on Gonzales to either step down or not run for reelection, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna, Tim Burchett and Massie.

Most Republicans NOTUS spoke to on Tuesday said they’re waiting to see what the report of the Office of Congressional Conduct investigation concludes about Gonzales’ relationship with his late staffer, which will be released after the March 3 primary in Texas.

“Those texts are bad, and it’s terrible that this young lady committed suicide the way she did it. I mean, the whole thing is just terrible, but he denies it,” Bacon said. “So what I did with George Santos and everybody else, let’s get the investigation and get the results. He gets his day in due process, and if that is him, he’s in trouble.”