Representative Blake Farenthold

Randolph Blake Farenthold (December 12, 1961 – June 20, 2025) was an American politician, attorney, radio commentator, and lobbyist who represented Texas’s 27th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 until his resignation in April 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he served four terms in Congress during a period of significant political polarization, participating in the legislative process and representing the interests of his Gulf Coast constituents. His congressional career ended amid controversy over his use of public funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit and allegations that he had created an intensely hostile work environment for women in his office.

Farenthold was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, the son of Mary Sue (née Ogg; 1939–2014) and George Randolph “Randy” Farenthold (1939–1972). His paternal grandfather, George Edward Farenthold (1915–2000), was a Belgian immigrant from an aristocratic industrialist family who became active in the Texas oil industry, providing the family with substantial means. Through his grandfather’s later marriage, Blake was at one time the stepgrandson of Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, a prominent Texas Democratic legislator and reform advocate, who married and later divorced George Farenthold. His father died when Blake was young, and his stepfather, Hayden Head Sr., an attorney and partner in a Corpus Christi law firm, would later influence his legal career.

Farenthold attended Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi before enrolling at the University of Texas at Austin. At UT Austin he studied radio, television, and film, earning a Bachelor of Science degree and working as a radio disc jockey during his college years, an experience that foreshadowed his later involvement in broadcasting. He went on to study law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, where he received a Juris Doctor degree. After completing his legal education, he was admitted to the State Bar of Texas (Bar No. 06814500), beginning a professional career that combined law, media, and eventually politics.

Before entering elective office, Farenthold practiced law for approximately seven years at the Kleberg Law Firm in Corpus Christi, where his stepfather was a partner. In parallel with his legal work, he developed a public profile as a conservative media personality. He co-hosted a right‑wing talk radio program, “Lago in the Morning,” on Corpus Christi radio, where he became known for his outspoken conservative views and advocacy on local and national issues. His long familiarity with computers and communications—he had used the Internet since the mid‑1980s—shaped his later interest in technology and online privacy policy. This combination of legal training, media exposure, and ideological positioning laid the groundwork for his first run for Congress.

Farenthold entered national politics in the 2010 election cycle, running as a Republican for Texas’s 27th congressional district against long‑time Democratic incumbent Solomon Ortiz, who had represented the district since its creation in 1982. In a closely contested race reflecting a broader Republican wave that year, Farenthold defeated Ortiz by 799 votes on election night. Ortiz requested a manual recount, but on November 22, 2010, he conceded the race. The final tally showed Farenthold with 47.85 percent of the vote to Ortiz’s 47.1 percent, a narrow margin of 799 votes that marked one of the cycle’s notable upsets and sent Farenthold to Washington as part of the Tea Party–aligned freshman class.

Farenthold took office on January 3, 2011, and served in the House of Representatives until his resignation in April 2018. Following redistricting after the 2010 census, his district was significantly reshaped and became markedly more Republican. The pre‑redistricting district had been about 70 percent Latino, but the new map shifted many heavily Latino areas into the newly created 34th district. To compensate for the population loss, the 27th District was extended north and east, absorbing strongly Republican territory near Houston and Austin. After 2011 the district ran along the middle Texas Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Bay City and inland to Luling, encompassing Aransas, Calhoun, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton, and parts of Bastrop, Caldwell, and Gonzales Counties. In Congress, Farenthold joined the Republican Study Committee and the Tea Party Caucus, aligning himself with the party’s conservative wing.

Farenthold was repeatedly returned to office by increasingly comfortable margins. In 2012, running in the newly drawn district, he defeated Democratic nominee Rose Meza Harrison by a margin of 57 percent to 39 percent. In 2014 he faced no opposition in the Republican primary and won the general election against Democrat Wesley Reed, receiving 83,342 votes (63.6 percent) to Reed’s 44,152 (33.7 percent). In the 2016 election cycle, he secured renomination in the March 1 Republican primary with 42,872 votes (56 percent) to 33,699 (44 percent) for challenger Gregg Patrick Deeb of Corpus Christi. In the November 8, 2016 general election, he defeated Democrat Raul “Roy” Barrera, who had emerged from his party’s primary with 50.3 percent of the vote. Farenthold polled 142,251 votes (61.7 percent) to Barrera’s 88,329 (38.3 percent), winning a fourth term.

During his congressional service, Farenthold took particular interest in technology and Internet policy. Drawing on his long‑standing engagement with online communities, he received praise from some online privacy advocates when he introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing states from compelling companies to weaken encryption for law‑enforcement access, a measure supporters viewed as a defense of strong digital security. At the same time, his record on privacy was mixed: he voted to repeal a Federal Communications Commission rule that would have barred Internet service providers from selling customers’ browsing histories without their consent. On broader national issues, he endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race and remained a supporter through the campaign and into the Trump administration. After the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording of Trump and Billy Bush, Farenthold drew criticism when, asked whether a hypothetical statement by Trump such as “I really like raping women” would cause him to withdraw his endorsement, he replied that he “would have to consider it.” He later apologized, stating that he did not and had never condoned rape or violence against women and that he did not believe Trump to be that kind of man. He supported Trump’s 2017 executive order imposing a temporary ban on entry into the United States by citizens of several Muslim‑majority countries, arguing that the country needed to be cautious about whom it admitted.

Farenthold’s voting record reflected his alignment with House Republican leadership on ethics, health care, and national security issues. In January 2017 he voted in favor of a proposal to significantly reduce the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics by placing it under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which was controlled by the Republican majority. After a public backlash, the conference reversed course and abandoned the change. On May 4, 2017, he voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and to pass the American Health Care Act, a Republican‑backed replacement bill. In a July 2017 radio interview, frustrated by the Senate’s failure to act, he called it “absolutely repugnant” that the Affordable Care Act had not yet been repealed, criticizing “some female senators from the Northeast” and remarking that if the opponent were “a guy from south Texas,” he might suggest settling the matter “Aaron Burr‑style,” a reference to dueling that drew further criticism.

Farenthold also became embroiled in controversy over his public comments on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a May 2017 appearance on CNN, he cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian actors had hacked Democratic Party servers and instead promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that the breach was an “inside job.” When pressed by journalist John Berman, he defended his remarks by citing “things circulating on the internet,” despite testimony from former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan and findings by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and CIA attributing the hack to Russia. The editorial board of the Corpus Christi Caller‑Times criticized his statements as “Farenthold’s latest new low” and said his “antics are becoming increasingly cartoonish,” reflecting growing local concern over his conduct and rhetoric.

The most serious challenges to Farenthold’s career arose from allegations of misconduct in his congressional office. Reports emerged that he had used public funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former staffer and that he had presided over an intensely hostile work environment for women. The settlement, totaling US$84,000, was paid from a taxpayer‑funded account administered by the Office of Compliance. Amid mounting scrutiny and bipartisan criticism, Farenthold announced that he would not seek reelection in 2018. In April 2018 he resigned from Congress before the end of his term. Upon resigning, he pledged to reimburse the $84,000 in public funds used to settle the lawsuit, but he later reneged on that pledge, further fueling controversy over his departure. After leaving office, he worked as a lobbyist, continuing to engage in public affairs from outside elective office.

Blake Farenthold died on June 20, 2025. His career in Congress, spanning from 2011 to 2018, reflected both the rise of Tea Party–era conservatism on the Texas Gulf Coast and the broader national debates over ethics, gender, technology, and political rhetoric that marked American politics in the early twenty‑first century.