Posted on 05/27/2014 7:36:59 PM PDT by Din Maker
U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, at 91 the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House, was ousted Tuesday in the Texas Republican runoff by a candidate barely half his age.
Backed by powerful national groups with strong tea party ties, 48-year-old former U.S. Attorney John Ratcliffe was able to paint Hall as too cozy with the GOP establishment after 34 years in office. He forced the incumbent into his first runoff in 17 terms in the House then won that on Tuesday.
Hall first ran for political office in 1950 and won his seat when Jimmy Carter was president. He was a Democrat until switching parties in 2004.
No Democrat is running in the district that stretches from suburban Dallas east to Louisiana and north to Oklahoma — meaning Ratcliffe will be headed to Washington after the November general election.
Even before the final results were in, Hall called the race "not one of my best ones, that's for sure."
In Texas' March primary, Hall won 45 percent of the vote compared to Ratcliffe's nearly 29 percent — but since no one won a majority in a six-way race, Hall was forced into the first runoff his congressional career.
Ratcliffe was backed by the Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund, but Hall bristled at the notion that he's not conservative enough. He won endorsements from tea party favorite Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and leading Christian conservative voice and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Neville Govender, also casting his ballot Tuesday in Heath, said he had never bothered to vote in a congressional election until this year because he knew Hall would win in a rout.
"I just believe in what he stands for, his energy," Govender said of Ratcliffe. "I believe we need change."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
the GOPe poured a lot of resources into this race for Hall.
Out with the ancient....
Great news!
but... but... but.... the Tea Party is dead... Sarah Palin is.... right wing hobbits....
Bachmann endorsed him. That was the only good endorsement.
But Bachmann endorsed Cliff Stearns and Ted Yoho has exceeded expectations.
The TEA party is dead, you stupid teabaggers.
BUTT.....I thought the TEA PARTY was dead?......
Good job.
Hucklebee? Humph.
NINETY ONE!
Because that’s what I want to be doing at ninety one. Not fishing, gardening, traveling, sipping drinks on a verandah, enjoying my grandkids or just breathing air.
augh.
Or else the TEA PARTY has taken over the GOP. Rats can't decide on what lies to use from week to week.
It has to be pried from cold, dead hands sometimes.
Hall was also endorsed by Alf Landon, Wendell Wilkie, and Thomas E. Dewey.
ROFL. I think Benjamin Harrison also announced his support as well.
91?
Can’t we agree on some kind of maximum age limit on these power mongering federal bloodsuckers?
Too many pols are just like him; so addicted to power that they would rather die in office than retire.
Ralph Hall is a very decent man...no reason to demean him.
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