Former Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold Dies at 63
Blake Farenthold, a former U.S. Representative from Texas known for being a political maverick and also being engulfed in a stream of controversies, has passed away at 63. As exposed by his longtime political adviser, Steve Ray, the death of Farenthold had been in the air over the last few months, caused by a heart and liver issue for which he had been undergoing treatment at a Corpus Christi hospital. On Friday, his wife, Debbie Farenthold, put an end to the speculations by confirming his death.
In 2010, Farenthold rose to political prominence by causing a massive upset in a close battle by toppling the long-serving Democratic Rep. Solomon Ortiz. However, the years spent in Congress were not that much of a bliss in his life. In 2017, the exposure of his involvement in sexual harassment charges from one of his former employees made him retract his candidature to the next election.
Nonetheless, despite Farenthold proclaiming his innocence of the claims, the matter of fact was that his office was not that professional and the workplace atmosphere did not reflect professional standards; in fact, it’s a mix of offhanded comments, gossip, and the like that he referred to. “Everybody is human,” Ray said when he thought of the bicameral legacy of Farenthold.
His pre-politics days witnessed Farenthold as a member of the conservative media team, where some of his roles included being a co-host in a local radio show. It would not be a surprise if we equate his media history with political aspects that later on came as his power in decision making, as a time when he was the early bird in technology in Washington.
Ray said that “Many people didn’t believe he would succeed when he first ran for Congress, but once he got in, he really worked hard for his district. He always did things from his heart.”
After Congress, Farenthold was back to the media industry, running a series of talk shows in a radio station, which he had been doing until he left us.
One of the people who survived him is his wife Debbie, and two daughters are the ones Morgan Baucum and Amanda Lawrence.
