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Politics|Blake Farenthold, 63, Congressman Who Quit in Harassment Case, Dies
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/blake-farenthold-dead.html
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A Texas Republican, he gave up his seat after news broke that public funds had been used to settle the case, made by his former communications director.
June 24, 2025, 4:16 p.m. ET
Blake Farenthold, a former Republican congressman from Texas who resigned in 2018 after it was revealed that $84,000 in public funds had been used to settle a sexual harassment suit against him, died on Friday in Corpus Christi. He was 63.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his longtime political consultant, Steve Ray, who said that Mr. Farenthold had been treated for liver and heart ailments.
Mr. Farenthold’s congressional career ended abruptly. In December 2017, some two weeks after the news broke of the settlement payment, he announced that he wouldn’t run again for the seat he had held since 2010, when he rode the Tea Party wave into Congress.
During his time in office, he told a constituent that Congress should have investigated President Barack Obama’s birth certificate; he voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act; and he spoke of “a pathway to legalization” for undocumented immigrants, in a district with a large Hispanic population.
His resignation came at the height of the #MeToo movement; in that December alone, three other congressmen had stepped down over sexual misconduct.
Less than four months later, in April 2018, Mr. Farenthold abruptly quit his seat amid a new investigation by the House Committee on Ethics.
