Blake Farenthold and Congressional District 27, which stretches from Bastrop in Central Texas, south to Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast.
As predicted by Politico last month, U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Corpus Christi) has resigned from Congress.
“While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it’s time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve,” Farenthold said in a news statement Friday, April 6. “Therefore, I sent a letter to (Texas) Governor Greg Abbott today resigning from the House of Representatives effective at 5 p.m. today, April 6, 2018.”
Farenthold announced in December that he would not seek re-election to office. The announcement came after news reports that $84,000 in taxpayer money was used to settle a sexual harassment charge against him in 2014. On the heels of that revelation came more allegations of a sexually charged and hostile workplace environment that Farenthold apologized for in a public statement.
“I had no idea how to run a congressional office, and as a result, I’d allowed a workplace culture to take root in my office that was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional,” the four-term congressman said in his December statement. “It accommodated destructive gossip, off-hand comments, off-color jokes and behavior that, in general, was less than professional.”
The now-open seat for the state’s 27th congressional district, which stretches from Central Texas to the Gulf Coast, drew a wide field of candidates for both the Democratic and Republican primaries in March.
Bech Brunn, a former Texas Water Board Development chairman, and Michael Cloud, former GOP chairman for Victoria, will face off for the Republican nomination in the May 22 run-off election.
On the Democratic side, former congressional aide and former assistant to a New York City comptroller, Eric Holguin, goes up against Raul “Roy” Barrera, a special deputy/court security officer at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Corpus Christi. That race will also be decided May 22.
The winner of each primary will face each other Nov. 6 in the mid-term elections
All 435 seats in the House are up for election to two-year terms, while 34 of 100 Senate seats will be on the ballot for six-year terms.
An investigation into whether Farenthold used his congressional office for campaign purposes was recently launched by the House Ethics Committee. Some Washington insiders speculate Farenthold resigned to head off the investigation, which is still in progress
