Oldest Sitting House Member Hall Lost To Tea Party Primary Challenger

Congressman Ralph Hall smiles during a tour of his home in Rockwall, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2014. The oldest-ever member of the U.S. House faces the toughest test of his political career, as the 91-year-old Hall tri... Congressman Ralph Hall smiles during a tour of his home in Rockwall, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2014. The oldest-ever member of the U.S. House faces the toughest test of his political career, as the 91-year-old Hall tries to beat back a Republican primary challenger half his age and keep his seat for one last term. (AP Photo/LM Otero) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), the oldest sitting member of the House of Representatives at 91, lost a runoff election on Tuesday to conservative challenger U.S. Attorney John Ratcliffe.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting on Wednesday, Ratcliffe was leading Hall 53 percent to 47 percent.

Hall was a 34-year incumbent prior to losing, according to the Daily Beast. He had been the target of a number of prominent conservative outside groups this cycle who backed Ratcliffe’s candidacy. The Club for Growth’s Chris Chocola was quick to praise Ratcliffe’s win.

“Congratulations to John Ratcliffe on his great victory tonight. In Congress, John will be a fighter for Texas taxpayers and a champion for economic liberty. John Ratcliffe is a constitutional conservative and we can’t wait to see him elected.

Similarly, the Senate Conservatives Fund, which invested $60,000 on supporting Ratcliffe, also lauded his victory.

“We congratulate John Ratcliffe on his victory tonight. He won this race because he never stopped fighting for conservative principles,” SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins said in a statement. “John Ratcliffe will go to Washington and fight to stop wasteful spending, balance the budget, and repeal Obamacare.”

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for meri meri says:

    Someone forgot to scream “OBAMACARE!!!” enough.

  2. Haven’t decided whether to rejoice about this or not. Been waiting for someone to get rid of Ralph Hall for over a decade now, but he is being replaced by someone even worse. Only consolation is the new guy will enter with now seniority so will have no actual power, unlike Hall, who has devastated the Science committee for years.

  3. Ratcliffe won’t actually deliver on what his money men say he will or even try to, but it sounds good as a “send money” pitch. Emotions aside, people must eventually retire, but it’s too bad Hall didn’t know what time it was.

  4. For a bunch of guys that seem to hate that “communist” in the white house, the Teabag Party sure loves to engage in Permanent Revolution.

    None of their sacred cows is ever conservative enough, because they’re TAINNNNNNNNNNTEDDDDD by their exposure to That Moral Sewer And Corrupting Cesspool in D.C.

    And thus, they always have another wackadoodle, waiting in the wings.

  5. It’s Texas. Congressman Ratshit will soon be a scary reality.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

7 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for charliee Avatar for meri Avatar for asanders91360 Avatar for sylhines Avatar for blueberrytomatosoup Avatar for whiteboar Avatar for snarkus_aurelius Avatar for captaincommonsense

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: