Blake Farenthold

Early life and education

Farenthold was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, the son of Mary Sue (née Ogg) and George Randolph "Randy" Farenthold. His paternal grandfather, George Edward Farenthold, was a Belgian immigrant who was the descendant of an aristocratic industrialist family and worked in the oil industry in Texas. Farenthold attended Incarnate Word Academy and the University of Texas at Austin where he received a bachelor of science degree in Radio, Television, and Film. He also graduated from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio.

Career

Farenthold's pre-political career includes working as a radio disc jockey in high school and college, seven years of practicing law at the Kleberg Law Firm in Corpus Christi, and founding Farenthold Consulting LLC, a computer consulting and web design firm.

Farenthold co-hosted Lago in the Morning, a conservative talk radio program on KKTX radio until he began his political campaign.

Elections

Farenthold defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Solomon Ortiz by 799 votes on election night. Ortiz asked for a manual recount. On Monday, November 22, Ortiz conceded the race to Farenthold. Farenthold's final margin of victory over Ortiz was 47.85 to 47.1 percent held. His margin of victory was 799 votes. Ortiz had represented the district since its creation in 1982.

Redistricting after the 2010 census made Farenthold's district significantly more Republican. His old district had been 70 percent Latino, but the new map shifted most of the Latino areas to the newly created 34th district. To make up for the loss in population, his district was shifted well to the north and east, absorbing some heavily Republican territory near Houston and Austin.

He defeated Democratic nominee Rose Meza Harrison 57-39 percent.

Farenthold was not challenged in the Republican primary. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Wesley Reed.

Farenthold won re-nomination in the March 1 Republican primary with 42,872 votes (56 percent) to 33,699 (44 percent) for his challenger, Gregg Patrick Deeb (born c. 1964) of Corpus Christi, who formerly lived in South Carolina. In the general election held on November 8, Farenthold defeated the Democrat Raul "Roy" Barrera, who had won his party nomination on March 1 with 16,140 votes (50.3 percent) over two opponents. Farenthold polled 142,251 votes (61.7 percent) to Barrera's 88,329 (38.3 percent).

Farenthold has joined the Republican Study Committee, as well as the Tea Party Caucus. Since redistricting in 2011, his district runs along the middle Texas Gulf coast from Corpus Christi to Bay City and inland to Luling, and includes Aransas, Calhoun, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton, and parts of Bastrop, Caldwell, and Gonzales counties.

Committee assignments

Sexual harassment lawsuit

In 2014, Farenthold was sued by a former staffer, who accused the congressman of gender discrimination, saying that he created a hostile work environment and improperly fired her after she complained. The sexual harassment lawsuit was settled out of court in 2015 on confidential terms.

Internet

Farenthold received praise from the online privacy community when he introduced bipartisan legislation that would prevent states from forcing companies to weaken encryption for law enforcement purposes. However, Farenthold voted to repeal an FCC Internet privacy rule that would have prohibited Internet service providers from selling the browsing history of their customers without customers' consent.

Donald Trump

Farenthold endorsed Trump in the 2016 presidential race. After the Donald Trump and Billy Bush recording was made public, Fahrentold was asked what it would take for him to rescind his endorsement, and whether Trump saying "I really like raping women" would be sufficient, Fahrentold said that he "would have to consider it." Fahrentold later apologized, saying "I apologize for my failure to immediately condemn anyone who would say something as outrageous as they like raping women... I do not, and have not ever condoned rape or violence against women. That is not the kind of man I believe Donald Trump to be."

He supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying "we must be cautious who we allow into our country."

Ethics

In January 2017, Farenthold voted in favor of gutting the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics, supporting a measure that would remove the office's independence by placing it under the jurisdiction of the Republican-led House Ethics Committee. Following a backlash, the decision was reversed.

Health care

On May 4, 2017, Farenthold voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act. In a radio interview in July 2017, he said it was "absolutely repugnant" that the Affordable Care Act had not been repealed yet. In particular, he criticized "some female senators from the Northeast," and stated "if it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style."

Conspiracy theories about the 2016 presidential election

In a May 2017 appearance on CNN, Farenthold publicly doubted the Russian hack of Democratic Party servers and instead promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that the hack was an "inside job." When pressed by journalist John Berman, Farenthold defended his statement by saying that there were "Things circulating on the internet." Farenthold's claim contradicted testimony from former CIA Director John Brennan and the conclusions of the FBI and CIA. Farenholdt's statement was criticized by the editorial board of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, who called it "Farenthold's latest new low" and said "Farenthold's antics are becoming increasingly cartoonish."

Global warming and the environment

Farenthold rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. On his campaign website, Farenthold wrote "Global warming is scare tactic used by groups with a political agenda. While I support protecting the environment, the green agenda pushes it way beyond common sense, with ideas like cap and trade which would destroy American industry."

Farenthold has a lifetime score of 3% on the National Environmental Scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters. Farenthold has been described as a "climate change denier" by Vice Media and by Organizing for America.

Personal life

Farenthold lives with his wife Debbie and two daughters Morgan and Amanda in Corpus Christi. He is the step-grandson of Sissy Farenthold, a long-time Democratic icon in Texas, who was married to his grandfather, George Farenthold, from 1950 until 1985.

In 1972, when Farenthold was ten years old, his father disappeared and was later found dead, his body having washed ashore after being weighed down with a cement block and deposited in Corpus Christi Bay. The gangland-style murder was the work of enemies of the elder Farenthold, who feared he would testify against a group of con artists who had tried to defraud him out of $100,000.

In 2010, images of Farenthold dressed in duck pajamas alongside women in lingerie emerged on the website thecrushgirls.com. Farenthold's Democratic challenger subsequently ran a political ad highlighting the unusual subject nature of the images.