Free Republic

Former Texas Rep. Ralph Hall, the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House and a man who claimed to have once sold cigarettes and Coca-Cola to the bank-robbing duo of Bonnie and Clyde, has died at age 95. The Republican and World War II pilot died at his home in Rockwall on Thursday morning, said Ed Valentine, Hall’s longtime strategist. Asked about a cause of death, Valentine simply cited Hall’s age, saying he hadn’t been suffering from any known long-term health problems. Hall was 91 when he left the House after being defeated in a 2014 Republican primary runoff election by...

When Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., lost the GOP primary to challenger Richard Mourdock this month, Beltway types saw the voters' verdict as a victory for the Tea Party and a defeat for the kind of Republican who could work across the aisle. I think Lugar, 80, lost because he was out of touch with Indiana. He started the primary registered to vote at an Indiana home he had sold in 1977. The Lugars have resided in Virginia ever since. Lugar had been working in Washington for so long that he didn't realize he needed to keep up at least the...

WASHINGTON -- The leadership of the House Science Committee, the Congressional panel that authorizes NASA programs, wants NASA to halt work on the Orbital Space Plane, because of budget issues and concerns over the direction of the agency’s human space flight program. In an Oct. 21 letter to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, the committee expressed “deep concern” with NASA’s approach to the program and urged the agency to defer work on the project until an inter-agency space review is completed by the White House and approved by the president and Congress. The program “will not be successful on its current...

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, the senior member in the U.S. House of Representatives, plans to seek a 14th two-year term. The Rockwall Republican confirmed plans to run last week. Candidates began filing for the March 7 primary Saturday, with 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 2 the filing deadline. “I want to finish the energy thrust, and I want to see gas under $2,” Hall said of his reasons for wanting to serve another two years. Hall serves as chairman of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. The Energy and Commerce Committee is the oldest legislative...

Republican Congressman Ralph Hall addressed the Grayson County Bar Association Wednesday. The elder statesman told a few jokes and gave the crowd an update on issues including the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, the war in Iraq, energy costs and special sessions at the state government level. Hall said he supports President Bush's nomination for the Supreme Court, John Roberts. Hall said Roberts is a fair man who will make a good judge and who should be "able to hold his own" in confirmation hearings. While Hall said he does support Bush's nomination for the Supreme Court,...

Mike Murphy's run for the District 4 congressional seat has ruffled feathers in the national GOP. He just can't figure out why.   About a year ago, Mike Murphy and his pal J.J. Miller were at his pad in Frisco shooting pool over a few cold beers and lamenting the state of politics. Murphy, who is now 30, and Miller, 33, couldn't find a candidate whose ideas and values meshed with theirs, and the two young Republicans thought their party needed better guidance. "That's when I said he should run for Congress," Miller recalls. "I told him he'd be perfect."...

Rep. Hall has full plate with prime ribbing at benefit roast11:11 PM CST on Saturday, January 24, 2004By SELWYN CRAWFORD / The Dallas Morning News ROCKWALL – U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall may have bolted the Democrat Party this month, but the affection his Republican constituents have for him is here to stay. They showed that love again Saturday night when dozens ignored rain and fog to attend a benefit roast of Mr. Hall, 80, at Chandler's Landing Yacht Club. "There is no more beloved man in Rockwall County than Ralph Hall," said former Rockwall Mayor Alma Williams-Howard, the evening's hostess....

Redistricting doesn't stop Democrats Thursday, January 22, 2004 The re-redistricting bomb that U.S. Majority Leader Tom DeLay dropped on white Texas Democrats in Congress was huge. However, all but two have filed for re-election anyway. Wouldn't it be ironic if several won? Ralph Hall of Rockwall switched to the Republicans, whom he'd been with for years in all but the initial after his name, anyway. And Jim Turner of Crockett decided not to run again. With $1 million in his campaign bank, he says he might run for governor or the U.S. Senate in 2006. But the main Democrats targeted...

US Democratic lawmaker switches to Republican party US Representative Ralph Hall, a Democrat from Texas, switched to the Republican Party Friday night, a news report said. With Hall's switch, the Republicans strengthened their grip on power in the House, with 229 representatives against 204 Democrats. There is one Democrat-leaning independent and one vacancy in the lower house of parliament. Hall, 80, was first elected to the House in 1980. His move was seen as a result of the Republicans' drive to remake Texas' congressional districts more to their liking, which has been strongly opposed by Democrats arguing the redistricting plan...

AUSTIN, Texas -- After nearly a quarter-century as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, Texas Rep. Ralph Hall switched parties to become a Republican and said he expects support from the White House. "I've known (President Bush) since he was a young boy. He's a Godly man. He's a Texan and he was the governor and he's our friend," Hall told The Associated Press Friday. Bush praised Hall's decision, welcoming him to the Republican Party. "Ralph is a close friend of the Bush family. He is a well-respected leader of the highest integrity, and a tireless advocate for...

<p>WASHINGTON — Texas Rep. Ralph Hall (search) switched parties Friday night, filing for re-election as a Republican after nearly a quarter-century as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress.</p> <p>"I've always said that if being a Democrat hurt my district I would switch or I would resign," Hall said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said GOP leaders had recently refused to place money for his district in a spending bill and "the only reason I was given was I was a Democrat."</p>

Republicans got a windfall from congressional redistricting well ahead of the 2004 general election, as veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall switched parties Friday to seek re-election in the north Texas district he has represented since 1980. Hall's chances of re-election as a Democrat in the 4th District were diminished last year when the Texas Legislature pushed through a redistricting plan aimed at electing at least six more GOP members from Texas. Hall, 80, a former Rockwall County judge who became one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, announced that he would become a Republican after talking with several...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Texas Rep. Ralph Hall switched parties Friday night, filing for re-election as a Republican after nearly a quarter-century as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. "I've always said that if being a Democrat hurt my district I would switch or I would resign," Hall said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said GOP leaders had recently refused to place money for his district in a spending bill and "the only reason I was given was I was a Democrat." In an interview in which he said he had filed to run as a...

Brian Wilson on Special Report says U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Texas will be switching parties from Democrat to Republican. He is being pushed into a heavily GOP district with the new boundaries and he is known as a conservative Democrat. While it may not change that many votes, it will add one more "R" to the congressional makeup.

He's long been labeled as one of the Democratic Party's most vulnerable members, but seven-term Rep. Chet Edwards' the president's own congressman, has for years managed to elude Republican efforts to oust him from his conservative district in Waco, Texas. But the Texas GOP vows that 2004 will be different. Edwards' political demise is close at hand, they say, just as it is for two of his colleagues in Bush's backyard who are on the GOP target list” Reps. Charlie Stenholm and Ralph Hall. Both are among the few remaining Democrats in Congress who have managed to hold on to...