A congressman under scrutiny for allegations that he sexually harassed female staff members and created a hostile work environment announced Thursday that will not seek reelection next year.
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), who settled a complaint with his former communications director but has denied wrongdoing, plans to serve out the rest of his term but will not seek reelection in 2018, he announced Thursday in a video posted to Facebook. His decision makes him the latest lawmaker to fall due to allegations of misconduct as Congress grapples with how to address what some aides have described as a culture of inappropriate behavior on Capitol Hill.
Farenthold, who represents the 27th Congressional District along the Texas Gulf Coast, including Corpus Christi, apologized Thursday in the five-minute video.
“I allowed a workplace culture to take root in my office that was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional,” Farenthold said, carefully reading a prepared statement. “It accommodated destructive gossip, offhand comments, off-color jokes … and I allowed the personal stress of the job to manifest itself in angry outbursts.”
Farenthold continued to deny the charges from his former communications director, Lauren Greene, who accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments designed to gauge if she was interested in a relationship. And he stated his belief that he broke no laws.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) administers the House oath of office to Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.) during a mock swearing in ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington in January. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said he supported Farenthold’s decision, citing “disconcerting” new accounts of his behavior toward staff members.
“I think he’s making the right decision to retire,” Ryan said Thursday at a news conference. “I think he’s made the right decision that he’s going to be leaving Congress.”
Ryan and other congressional leaders have faced pressure to take a hard line against the growing list of lawmakers accused of inappropriate behavior. Last week, Ryan successfully urged former Republican congressman Trent Franks of Arizona to resign immediately following allegations that Franks had asked two female staffers to serve as surrogates for his child.
On Thursday, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, also weighed in to support Farenthold’s decision.
“Congress must work harder to hold ourselves to a higher standard, which is why the House took action to ensure this body is a safe and constructive workplace for all,” Stivers said. “However, there is still more work to be done.”
Stivers added that he is confident the party will retain Farenthold’s seat in next year’s midterm elections.
Farenthold’s pending retirement comes after voters rejected Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in a special election Tuesday night. Moore allegedly pursued romantic relationships with teenage girls, including a 14-year-old, while in his 30s. His loss was a major victory for Democrats, putting the party one seat closer to regaining its Senate majority.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday called on Farenthold to resign immediately, describing the latest reports as “shocking and unacceptable.”
She was asked again about the status of Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.), who faced new accusations of improper conduct on Wednesday but has refused to step down despite pressure from Pelosi and the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The Nevada Independent, a Las Vegas-based news outlet, on Wednesday published the anonymous account of a female lobbyist who received unwanted sexual advances by Kihuen from 2013 to 2015 when he was a state senator. Kihuen repeatedly reached out to the woman over social media, according to the report.
A spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State said Farenthold missed the deadline to withdraw from his district’s primary race, so his name will likely remain on the ballot. “Barring any challenge to the candidate’s application before the mail-in ballots go out in late January, his name will still be on the ballot for the March 6 Primary,” Sam Taylor emailed.
The decision came after a series of unflattering news stories about Farenthold, a fourth-term congressman who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for his behavior toward Lauren Greene, with whom he reached a settlement in 2014.
CNN reported Wednesday that another former aide, Michael Rekola, approached the Ethics Committee with allegations Farenthold was verbally abusive and sexually demeaning to aides.
