Rep. Blake Farenthold
Former Representative for Texas’s 27th District
pronounced blayk // FA-rin-thawld
Farenthold was the representative for Texas’s 27th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2011 to 2018.
![Photo of Rep. Blake Farenthold [R-TX27, 2011-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/412482-200px.jpeg)
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2015 Farenthold was investigated for sexual harassment on the basis of a 2014 lawsuit filed against him alleging sexual harassment. The lawsuit was resolved in 2015 with a taxpayer-funded settlement that was revealed in 2017, and the House Committee on Ethics investigation was re-opened. On April 6, 2018, Farenthold resigned. On April 12, 2018, the House Committee on Ethics closed the investigation due to loss of jurisdiction.
| Sep. 28, 2015 | House Committee on Ethics recommended further review, but to postpone that review until the lawsuit was resolved |
| 2015 | The lawsuit was resolved with a taxpayer-funded settlement that was revealed in 2017. |
| Dec. 7, 2017 | House Committee on Ethics re-opened the investigation |
| Dec. 13, 2017 | House Committee on Ethics named members to the Investigative Subcommittee |
| Dec. 13, 2017 | Farenthold announced he would not seek reelection in 2018. |
| Dec. 21, 2017 | House Committee on Ethics expanded the range of allegations being investigated to include campaign finance violations |
| Apr. 6, 2018 | Farenthold resigned. |
| Apr. 12, 2018 | House Committee on Ethics closed its investigation due to loss of jurisdiction |
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Farenthold is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Farenthold was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Farenthold sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Commerce (19%) Government Operations and Politics (16%) Law (12%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) Immigration (12%) Agriculture and Food (9%) Taxation (9%) International Affairs (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Farenthold recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5253 (115th): Office of Government Information Services Empowerment Act of 2018
- H.Res. 767 (115th): Directing the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives to enter …
- H.R. 3830 (115th): PRO Sports Act
- H.R. 3585 (115th): Wrongful Unmasking Prevention Act
- H.R. 3470 (115th): GPS Act
- H.R. 3377 (115th): JAWS Act
- H.R. 3341 (115th): Cell Location Privacy Act of 2017
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Mar 2018, Farenthold missed 38 of 4,974 roll call votes, which is 0.8%. This is better than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 2018. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
