Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, on Monday announced that he is retiring from Congress following the House Ethics Committee launching a probe into him over a romantic relationship with a former staffer who later died by suicide.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
“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. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales said in a post on X.
He did not specify when he plans to step down. Gonzales had announced last month that he was dropping his re-election bid.
His announcement came shortly after Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., announced that his own plans to resign amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations against him. Calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to expel Swalwell and Gonzales grew louder over the weekend.
Two separate measures to remove Swalwell and Gonzales were set to be introduced in the House this week. After Swalwell announced his plans to resign, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., said she would introduce the resolution to expel Gonzales.
Leger Fernández said in a separate post following Gonzales’ announcement that the congressman “has until 2PM tomorrow” to clarify when he will leave Congress.
“He has until 2PM tomorrow—when we will file his expulsion. He better write that resignation ‘effective immediately,'” Leger Fernández wrote.
Gonzales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who said she would support Leger Fernández’s resolution to expel Gonzales and would introduce another measure to expel Swalwell prior to his announcement, celebrated Monday’s announcements.
“We have successfully drained part of the swamp this week with the resignation of two very corrupt members of Congress,” Luna wrote on X.
Gonzales, who was running for re-election, had announced in March that he would drop that bid after reports that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with a staffer who later died by suicide. Gonzales acknowledged that he had had a relationship with the staffer in a podcast shortly before dropping out of the race.
Later, a second former staffer told NBC News that Gonzales had exchanged sexually explicit texts with her while she worked for him.
Under Texas law, it’s too late for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special election in time for the regularly scheduled May elections, which typically means the next election for a vacant seat would take place in November during the general election.
But in 2018 Abbott called an emergency special election after Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold resigned in April, arguing the election was needed to ensure the congressional district would be represented during discussions about hurricane relief.
It’s not clear whether Abbott would be able to do the same in this situation. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on the timing of a potential special election for Gonzales.
