Charles W. Stenholm
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Charles Walter Stenholm (born October 26, 1938) is an American businessman and
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from a rural district of the
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of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. After establishing himself as owner/operator of a large cotton farm, he entered politics and was elected to Congress in his first run for office. Stenholm was a
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
member of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
for 13 terms, representing
Texas's 17th congressional district Texas's 17th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes a strip of Central Texas and Deep East Texas stretching from Nacogdoches to Waco and Round Rock, including former President George W. Bush's McLennan Cou ...
from 1979 to 2005. He was known for his
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
social positions, helping garner conservative Democratic support for President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's tax cuts in 1981, and gaining passage of a new farm bill in 2002 that doubled farm subsidies for Texas agribusiness. In 1992 he had supported an amendment to require the federal government to have balanced budgets. After leaving Congress when defeated by a Republican in 2004, Stenholm stayed in Washington, DC. He worked as a lobbyist for food and agricultural interests, primarily with
Olsson Frank Weeda Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC is an American boutique law firm and lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in representing business interests in the food, drug, medical device, and agriculture industries in their dealings wit ...
, a law and lobbying firm in Washington, DC.


Early life and education

Stenholm was born in 1938 in Ericksdahl, Texas (sometimes identified as Stamford), a farming community in Jones County that was settled in the early 20th century largely by
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immigrants, including his grandparents. His parents Lambert and Irene Constance Stenholm raised him on their plantation-scale, 2000-acre farm near Abilene. They cultivated mostly cotton as a commodity crop. After attending public schools, Stenholm graduated from
Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
, with a B.S. (1961) and an M.S. (1962) in Agriculture Education. He was a member of the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
fraternity. Stenholm took over his family farm, raising cotton and also having a cattle ranch. He operated the large cotton farm in Stamford for many years. He also worked as a vocational teacher. He married Cynthia Watson and they had three children together. Chris Stenholm (b. 1963) became a lawyer in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
; Cary Watson Stenholm operates the family farm; and Courtney Ann Stenholm graduated from
Texas A & M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
.


Congressional career

Stenholm had gotten increasingly interested in politics. In 1965 he became a lobbyist for the Rolling Plains Cotton Growers Association. In late 1978 longtime Democratic Congressman
Omar Burleson Omar Truman Burleson (March 19, 1906 – May 14, 1991) was an attorney, judge, FBI agent and veteran of World War II when he was first elected in 1946 as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas's 17th congressional district. He was re-elected ...
decided to resign from his office representing
Texas's 17th congressional district Texas's 17th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes a strip of Central Texas and Deep East Texas stretching from Nacogdoches to Waco and Round Rock, including former President George W. Bush's McLennan Cou ...
, a vast and mostly rural district which stretched from
San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...
to the western fringes of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Seeing an opportunity, Stenholm ran in his first campaign as a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, and finished first in a crowded seven-way primary before winning the runoff with 67 percent of the vote. He then breezed to victory in November. Stenholm established a reputation as one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, and belonged to the
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. He was a leader of the Boll Weevils during the 1980s, and Chair of the Conservative Democratic Forum from 1981 until about 1993. In 1981, Stenholm was one of the more prominent Democratic supporters of Republican President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's tax-cut package. A decade later, he said he regretted that support. Like many Texas politicians, Stenholm was conservative on certain social issues; he opposed both
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
and
gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
. In 1990 he was one of three House Democrats who voted against the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...
. As a large farmer, Stenholm was chiefly interested in agriculture and also in budget matters. In 1992 he supported a
balanced budget amendment A balanced budget amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that a state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government. Balanced-budget provisions have been added t ...
to the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
requiring the federal government to keep to such budgets. In addition, for eight years, Stenholm was ranking Democrat on the
House Agriculture Committee The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, or Agriculture Committee is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The House Committee on Agriculture has general jurisdiction over federal agriculture policy and oversight of s ...
. He was among members who personally benefited from the subsidy program, originally authorized during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
to aid small farmers stay on their land. Under the 1996 farm bill, from 1996 to 2002, Stenholm as a farmer received $39,000 in subsidies. At least ten of his colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, also received substantial farm subsidies during this period. Stenholm worked very closely with
Larry Combest Larry Ed Combest (born March 20, 1945) is a retired American Republican politician who represented Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003. Early life Combest was born in Memphis, Texas, a small town in West Texas and the se ...
, the committee's chairman and a fellow farm owner, a
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
representing the neighboring
Texas's 19th congressional district Texas's 19th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes the upper midwestern portion of the state of Texas. The district includes portions of the State from Lubbock to Abilene. The current Representative from ...
. They shepherded the 2002 Farm Bill through Congress, in which Texas got the largest increase in subsidies of any state, doubling the amount received. During this period, the wealthiest 10% of farmers received 74% of the subsidies, which were directed at agribusiness. The 15 states that received 74% of the subsidies paid only 24% of the cost in their taxes, thus gaining a major federal handout. Stenholm frequently clashed with Democratic President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
during his administration; he voted for three of the four articles of impeachment against him. But Stenholm was also a severe critic of the succeeding Republican Bush Administration's fiscal policy. He voted against making Bush's tax cuts permanent, as by then he strongly opposed cutting taxes unless the budget was balanced.


Electoral success and demographic changes

Although the 17th's voters had begun splitting their tickets and voting Republican in presidential and U. S. Senate elections from the 1970s onward, the Republican Party had little support at the local level at the time. Conservative Democrats continued to hold most local offices in the 17th's footprint well into the 1990s. Proving this, Stenholm faced no major-party opposition from 1980 to 1990. He ran unopposed in 1980 and from 1984 to 1990. Notably, he was elected unopposed in years when Republican presidential candidates carried the 17th in landslides. In 1994, however, Stenholm was held to 53 percent of the vote by a relatively unknown Republican candidate. When his children heard the initial returns, they were so certain that he'd lost that they traveled to the family farm to console him. That same election saw Republicans win dozens of offices at the local level. Afterward, Stenholm ran for
House Minority Whip Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...
, losing to
David E. Bonior David Edward Bonior (born June 6, 1945) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, Bonior served as Democratic whip in the House from 1991 to 2002, during which time De ...
. While he was reelected four more times after that, Stenholm never won more than 60 percent of the vote, and he was nearly defeated in 1996 and 2002. During this time, Republicans gradually whittled away the Democratic advantage at the local level. By the end of the 20th century, Stenholm was the only Democrat elected above the county level in much of the 17th district. The district had swung so heavily to the GOP downballot by then that many observers thought it likely that Stenholm would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.


Reelection defeat

Stenholm was considered a major target of the Republican-dominated House in the redrawing of Texas's congressional districts in 2003, following the 2000 census. The Texas Legislature, now controlled by Republicans, significantly redrew the state's congressional map after House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...
of the
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
-based 22nd district pushed for a new map. Stenholm's district was dismantled and split among four districts. Most of his former territory, including his home in Abilene, was thrown into the heavily Republican
Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...
-based
19th congressional district 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full r ...
, represented by Combest's successor, Republican
Randy Neugebauer Robert Randolph "Randy" Neugebauer (born December 24, 1949) is an American politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for , having served from a special election in Texas' 19th congressional district specia ...
. The next-biggest chunk of Stenholm's former territory, including his cotton farm, was assigned to the equally Republican
Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...
-based 13th district, represented by
Mac Thornberry William McClellan "Mac" Thornberry (born July 15, 1958) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 13th congressional district from 1995 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Thornberry represented the mos ...
. Stenholm chose to run in the reconfigured 19th. The new district contained 60 percent of Neugebauer's former territory, a disadvantage which Stenholm could not overcome, despite his 13 terms of seniority. He lost by 18 percentage points in the November 2004 election, gaining slightly more than 40 percent of the vote. To date, this is the only time since Combest claimed the 19th for the GOP in 1984 that a Democrat has garnered even 40 percent of the vote in the district.


Post-Congressional career

Some major news organizations mentioned Stenholm as a possible candidate for
Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...
in President Bush's second-term Cabinet, although Bush had supported the congressional redistricting plan. Bush nominated
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Mike Johanns Michael Owen Johanns ( ; born June 18, 1950) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2009 to 2015. He served as the 38th governor of Nebraska from 1999 until 2005, and was chair of the Midwe ...
, a fellow Republican, for the post. After leaving Congress, Stenholm became a lobbyist, representing various agricultural interests, including the
horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existe ...
industry. In 2006, he was the most visible lobbyist for three foreign-owned horse-slaughter plants in the U.S., which were fighting regulatory legislation that would have resulted in their having to close. Meat from such horses was consumed as food by residents of some European Union countries, Japan and Mexico; it was also used for zoo food, and for medical purposes. Since 2005, Stenholm has been a senior policy advisor and lobbyist with
Olsson Frank Weeda Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC is an American boutique law firm and lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in representing business interests in the food, drug, medical device, and agriculture industries in their dealings wit ...
, a Washington law and lobbying firm that specializes in representing food, drug, and agriculture interests before federal agencies. Stenholm is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of
Issue One Issue One is an American nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influ ...
. He also serves on the board of directors of the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues. It was founded in 1981 by former United States Representatives Robert Gia ...
. Stenholm has since then returned to Tarleton State University where he teaches Agriculture Policy.


References


External links


"National Farmers Union presents leadership award"
''Southwest Farm Press'', September 27, 2004. Accessed January 27, 2006 * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenholm, Charles 1938 births 21st-century American politicians American cooperative organizers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Living people People from Stamford, Texas Texas Tech University alumni