After harassment allegations, GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold to retire in 2019
Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold (Texas) will retire in 2019 at the end of his congressional term, local ABC affiliate Newscenter 25 reported Thursday. NBC News confirmed the report, citing two unnamed GOP officials familiar with Farenthold's thinking.
Farenthold has recently come under fire for using vulgar insults to address staffers with whom he was angry, and a New York Times investigation depicted the lawmaker's office as a "hostile work environment, rife with sexual innuendo." Farenthold's improper conduct was first revealed by Politico's report earlier this month that Farenthold had used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Farenthold has denied the allegations. He had initially planned to run for re-election next year, but instead will reportedly retire in January 2019, when his current term ends.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
Senegal's Bassirou Diomaye Faye: from prison to Africa's youngest elected leader
Why everyone's talking about The 44-year-old has resonated with young people by promising to shake up the establishment and enact economic reforms
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
How social media is limiting political content
The Explainer Critics say Meta's 'extraordinary move' to have less politics in users' feeds could be 'actively muzzling civic action'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
'Unthinkable tragedy'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published