Dallas Morning News

10:28 AM Sat, Dec 05, 2009

Todd J. Gillman

 Rep. Ralph Hall, oldest member of U.S. House, seeks another term

So far, half of Texas' 20 GOP congressmen have filed for reelection, including Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall who, at age 86 years and 7 months, is the oldest member of the U.S. House.

Hall was elected in 1980, and only 19 members have served longer than he has, including the dean of the House, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, a Democrat who will hit 54 years in Congress next week.

At that age, rumors have flown for years that he'll retire but with his filing on Thursday, he may be putting that to bed for another election cycle. Or maybe not; Hall has a history of pulling surprise moves. Like the time he switched from Democrat to Republican late in the day on Jan. 5, 2004, at almost the last possible moment before the filing deadline - a move that precluded members of the party he'd abandoned (for post-redistricting survival) from lining up a challenger.

This time around, Hall has drawn an opponent with roots in the Tea Party movement.

The other GOP lawmakers who've already filed for reelection are: Reps. Sam Johnson of Plano (the delegation's second oldest member, at 79),Jeb Hensarling of Dallas, Mike Conaway of Midland, Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Mac Thornberry of Clarendon, Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock, Lamar Smith of San Antonio, Michael Burgess of Lewisville and John Carter of Round Rock.

The other 10 Texas Republican incumbents are likely to run again, too, as are the dozen Democrats, though only one has filed so far: Rep. Rubén Hinojosa of Mercedes. They've got weeks before the deadline and Texas is not expected to have any open seats up for grabs.