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FORT STOCKTON — There aren’t many elected officials Ruben Falcon can think of that he remembers fondly. A former mayor in this oil town, he’s helped garner support for a revolving door of politicians.
The West Texas Republican has learned to spot which ones are up for the task of caring for the expansive, largely rural West Texas.
Congressman Tony Gonzales, Falcon said, is one of them.
“I do feel like Congressman Gonzales, himself being from a small town, understood the challenges of small-town life,” he said. “How hard it is to get resources … just to reach out and say, ‘you matter too.’”
The roster of people who share that opinion appears to be thinner by the day for Gonzales, the San Antonio Republican who has been accused of having an affair with a staff member. That employee, Regina Santos-Aviles, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire. Gonzales has rejected calls for him to resign, even as illicit text messages between Santos-Aviles and Gonzales were shared by her husband this month.
On this, several local political leaders across the political spectrum in West Texas agree: The prospects are slim for Gonzales retaining his vulnerable seat in Congressional District 23 that stretches from San Antonio to El Paso. The fraught political tightrope the congressman walked from the moment he stepped into office in 2021 could finally snap, they said. The news of the affair that has consumed the news cycle has either overshadowed his track record or served as further evidence of his distance — both physical and political — from the community he represents.
Meanwhile, multiple interviews with West Texas residents, from grocery store owners and librarians to everyday people, tell another story. Most were either unaware of the controversy or declined to comment. In most instances, residents in Marfa, Alpine and Fort Stockton contacted by The Texas Tribune this week said they had nothing to add.
“You have to take the element of timing,” Falcon said. “And (the alleged affair) is an extremely terrible situation.”
Gonzales’ campaign did not respond to interview requests from The Texas Tribune.
The election for Gonzales, who faces YouTube phenomenon and rising right-wing celebrity Brandon Herrera in the upcoming primary election, is a test of how well the incumbent resonated with the people who call the sprawling 800 miles of oil fields and high desert that make up the congressional district home.
The primary election on Tuesday is a rematch between Gonzales and Herrera. Gonzales narrowly won the 2024 primary runoff contest over Herrera with just a few hundred votes.
Resentment toward Gonzales has simmered for years in the blood-red pockets of West Texas. And the few people who have been happy with his work are skeptical that he has a chance of winning the March 3rd primary election.
The Navy Veteran and retired cryptologist won his seat in 2020 against Raul Reyes and replaced retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, who angered conservatives for opposing President Donald Trump’s border wall. Gonzales, local political leaders said, was a fresh start — and an opportunity to advance conservative values.
But even before this scandal rocked his campaign, Gonzales struggled to earn voters’ confidence, said Tammie Smith, chair of the Upton County Republican Party.
He couldn’t work a room well, Smith said. But installing a conservative was paramount for rural Republicans. Rank-and-file members saw Gonzales as a potential champion of their values, even if she wasn’t all that persuaded herself.
She’s been disappointed at every turn. A year into his term, the congressman stopped communicating regularly with Smith, who had campaigned for him in several counties and cities. If he ever traveled to McCamey, where Smith lives with her husband, she wouldn’t hear from him or be invited to closed-door events.
Even worse, she said, is his voting record. Following the Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022 that left 19 elementary school students and two teachers dead, Gonzales supported former President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which strengthened gun safety laws. Gonzales, the lone Texas Republican to support the bill, has stood by his vote. Along with 47 Republicans, he broke party lines in 2022 to support federally recognizing same-sex marriages.
For moderates, these votes may have made sense. For Smith, it was a betrayal that led to censure, further straining Gonzales’ relationship with rural Republicans.
“He voted for red flag laws, he voted for same-sex marriages, and those aren’t our values,” Smith said. “He doesn’t vote for the values of his constituents … When we elect somebody, we hope that that person will go to Congress and vote for what we believe in and represent our values. We’re not getting that.”
And “there’s a big difference between San Antonio” and West Texas, her husband, Finis Smith, added, suggesting he spent too much time in the metro area.
“How can you even represent all of CD-23 when you’re stuck inside the larger cities?” he said.
The Smiths, who said Gonzales should resign, said the controversy gives his opponent, Herrera, an edge in the race. They said Herrera is more in line with their beliefs — though his use of foul language makes her uncomfortable, she said.
Democrats — few and far between in West Texas — saw Gonzales as a Republican they could work with. They now worry how a conservative firebrand may go about solving local problems. Just this month, residents in the Big Bend area were surprised to learn that the federal government had taken steps to extend the border wall along the wildlife-rich Big Bend National Park. The move has sparked outrage among the local communities, many of whose families have resided in the region for generations.
“Tony Gonzales might have been helpful in fighting that border wall,” said Susan Hays, a Marfa Democrat running for a seat on the Presidio County Commissioners Court. Gonzales, she said, could have supported local opposition and perhaps taken measures to fend off construction at the national park.
“Now I don’t even think he’s going to win his primary,” she said.
Falcon, the former Fort Stockton mayor who now sits on the city’s council, echoed Hays.
Gonzales, he said, was an excellent problem solver who tackled the complicated task of balancing the needs of districts that were different in every respect — size, resources and access to money.
Gonzales helped secure nearly half a million dollars for the Fort Stockton Police Department, which helped them buy brand-new SUVs, Falcon said. Gonzales also helped direct $1 million in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services for a local health clinic. When he wasn’t securing funds, Falcon added, Gonzales’s office routinely asked them what they needed, sending letters and petitions.
“We know he has to be selective on what he chooses, and we know we can’t be selected every year,” Falcon said. “He understood us, he understood small town, the needs of our government. You gotta keep so many little communities funded somehow. It’s exhausting, I’m sure, for them.”
Falcon said the news of the affair and subsequent death could severely injure Gonzales’ shot at another term. His biggest concern is teaching a new congressperson the ropes from the start, all over again.
David Beebe, who describes himself as a conservative Democrat and a former Presidio County Commissioner and candidate for county judge, agrees that Gonzales had done a decent job in Congress — but is far less optimistic about the election.
Like in Fort Stockton, Gonzales helped Presidio financially, sending $1.7 million to the county’s health department. Gonzales was also, Beebee said, a Republican willing to work with Democrats on contentious national issues, including on measures to prevent the federal government from constructing a border wall along the hills of Big Bend. Gonzales has not commented publicly on the matter.
He does not believe that Gonzales can overcome the news of the affair, particularly with his constituents in Presidio, one of the few counties that still elects Democrats in West Texas.
“What you see there are working-class families, people who work and go to church. Tight-knit, normal, nice people, people who like to help their neighbor, people who don’t. It’s not a wild town,” Beebee said. “This is a traditional place. Take the tourism out of here, and you’ve got a traditional place here, a place where people don’t like that type of stuff. Especially when you’re powerful. So I think Tony’s really in trouble.”
