The radio host, lawyer and former Dist. 27 representative took over the seat after Solomon Ortiz and was succeeded by Michael Cloud.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Former Dist. 27 Congressman Blake Farenthold died Friday after suffering what friends called a chronic illness.
He was 63.
The radio host, lawyer and former Dist. 27 representative took over the congressional seat after Solomon Ortiz and was succeeded by Michael Cloud.
Farenthold unseated Ortiz — his Democratic opponent who had held the seat since its creation in 1982 — in 2010.
The election came down to 799 votes.
He was re-elected in 2012, 2014 and again in 2016.
“It is a very difficult thing to do. After 2010, they redistricted the district. So it no longer went down to Cameron County and now goes up toward Bastrop and Wharton County and it became a safe republican district after that,” said Del Mar College Political Science Professor Dr. Paul Gottamoller
He resigned in 2018 under a cloud that included an ethics investigation and began in 2014 when he was sued for sexual harassment by his former communications director Lauren Greene. The case was dropped in 2015.
However, in 2017, Politico published a story alleging Farenthold had settled with Greene using $84,000 in taxpayer money.
He pledged to repay the money but reportedly reneged after leaving office abruptly in April 2018 as the House Ethics Committee was set to reveal its findings.
Post-political life
Farenthold hosted radio shows before entering the political arena, working with iconic Corpus Christi DJ and radio host Jim Lago.
He most recently hosted Blake’s Morning Show, which covered a variety topics not limited to local politics, government, and city development.
“And he could present it in a manner that people understood on the radio, he didn’t talk over people’s heads,” said Big Frank with K-99.
Nueces County Pct. 1 Commissioner and former city councilman Mike Pusley, who often was featured on the show, posted the news of Frenthold’s death to his Facebook page Friday afternoon.
Frank McNiff co-hosted the morning show with Farenthold on Wednesday mornings. The two met while working as associates at Farenthold’s grandfather’s law firm, Kleberg & Head, in the 1990s.
McNiff said he was scheduled to be on Friday morning’s show with Farenthold and city councilwoman at-large Carolyn Vaughn, but received a text message from Farenthold’s wife, Debbie, that his friend was back in the hospital on Thursday.
In their younger years, McNiff said Farenthold was an intelligent man who was on the cutting edge of technology.
“When I first met him, you know — he’s a very energetic, funny, happy person that had a real knack with computers,” he said. “He was far ahead of anybody else with computers at that time. Just a, a happy go lucky, nice guy, very smart.
In his later years, McNiff said Farenthold was very much a family man who had just become a grandfather.
“He had a great loving family — his two daughters, uh, they were always extremely tight. And he had a recent grandchild which he loved very much. In fact, the grandchild was born here and they were staying at Blake’s house until recently.”
He said he’ll miss his friend’s sense of humor and ability to talk about any subject.
“He just — he always made me smile,” McNiff said. “You know, and he had great analysis — political analysis, world analysis, city analysis. He was up on everything, and it was just great to have such an intelligent conversation with a guy that was pleasant to be around; funny, and had great wit.”
This is a developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.