Barton to retire in disgrace...

Barton to retire after nude selfie fallout

He had announced plans to run for reelection less than a month ago.

By KYLE CHENEY

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he won’t run for reelection in 2018, following a string of stories about him sending lewd texts and nude photos and videos to women.

Barton, the ninth most-senior member of the House, told The Dallas Morning News in an interview, “There are enough people who lost faith in me that it’s time to step aside.” Local GOP leaders had begun calling for Barton to step down in recent days.

Barton's decision to retire comes after fallout in Texas over an anonymous Twitter user’s move to post a nude selfie Barton sent to a former paramour. His announcement also came a day after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted racy text messages Barton sent to an Arlington GOP activist while he was still married.

He had announced plans to run for reelection less than a month ago.

Barton, 68, one of the House’s most conservative members, began his tenure in 1985 and has represented the Dallas suburbs since. The scandal stunned Republican colleagues and came just days after The Dallas Morning News ran an upbeat profile under the headline “Why Rep. Joe Barton sticks around as other Texans kiss Congress goodbye.”

“I’m the odd duck who didn’t quit,” the Ennis, Texas, resident told the paper just weeks after a handful of other veteran Texas lawmakers announced their retirements. “Shows how much sense I have.”

In a reelection announcement in early November, Barton said he hoped to continue to work on the issues he’s pursued throughout his career.

“Much work remains in Washington and I hope to carry on the torch for the 6th District,” he said. I look forward to the upcoming primary election in Texas.”

Barton's plan to leave Congress marks the latest in a Lone Star State exodus that began when GOP Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Lamar Smith announced plans to exit at the end of their terms. Smith, like Barton, started his congressional career in the 1980s, and Hensarling started serving in 2003. Rep. Ted Poe, another Texas Republican who's been in Congress since 2005, also announced his retirement earlier this month.

The fifth-longest-serving House Republican, Barton was previously the chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee and a vocal conservative voice on energy policy. He’s also a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Over the years, Barton has infuriated critics with his skepticism of climate science and his swipe at the Obama administration in 2010 for what he called a “shakedown” of oil giant BP after its massive Gulf of Mexico spill.

The Texas lawmaker and two of his four children were also on the field of a congressional GOP baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, in June when a gunman opened fire, wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and sending dozens of lawmakers, aides and friends scurrying for safety. Barton’s 10-year-old son hid under a nearby truck until U.S. Capitol Police rushed the shooter and then was shielded by lawmakers and aides in the first-base dugout until the gunman was taken down.

Barton’s district, one of the most reliably red in the country, is likely to remain in Republican hands. Since 1984, Barton has never earned less than 56 percent of the vote and has earned more than 60 percent in 13 of his 17 elections.