Charles Stenholm


Charles Walter Stenholm is a farmer and Democratic Party politician from a rural district of the State of Texas. 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 member of the United States House of Representatives for 13 terms, representing Texas's 17th congressional district from 1979 to 2005. He was known for his conservative social positions, helping garner conservative Democratic support for President Ronald Reagan'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, a law and lobbying firm in Washington, DC.

Early life and education

Stenholm was born in 1938 in Ericksdahl, Texas, a farming community settled largely by his grandparents and other Swedish immigrants in the early 20th century. His parents Lambert and Irene Constance Stenholm raised him on their 2000-acre farm near Abilene. They cultivated mostly cotton. After attending public schools, he graduated from Texas Tech University, with a B.S. and an M.S. in Agriculture Education. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
Stenholm took over his family farm, raising cotton as a commodity crop and also cattle ranching. He operated the large cotton farm in Stamford for many years. He was also a cattle rancher and worked as a vocational teacher. He married Cynthia Watson and they had three children together. Chris Stenholm became a lawyer in Fort Worth, Texas; Cary Watson Stenholm operated the family farm; and Courtney Ann Stenholm graduated from Texas A & M University.

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 decided to resign from his office representing Texas's 17th congressional district, giving Stenholm an opportunity. He ran in his first campaign as a Democrat and was narrowly elected to the US House of Representatives from the 17th district. Based in Abilene and encompassing several counties, the district was vast and mostly rural. Its territory stretched from San Angelo to the western fringes of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
He established a reputation as one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, and belonged to the Blue Dog Coalition. 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's tax-cut package, which a decade later he regretted.
Like many Texas politicians, Stenholm was conservative on social issues and opposed both abortion and gun control. In 1990 he was one of three House Democrats who voted against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
As a large farmer, Stenholm was chiefly interested in agriculture and also in budget matters. In 1992 he supported a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution requiring the federal government to keep to such budgets.
In addition, for six years, Stenholm was ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. He was among members who personally benefited from the subsidy program, originally authorized during the Depression to aid small farmers stay on their land. Under the 1996 farm bill, from 1996-2002, 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 the committee's chairman and fellow farm owner, Republican Larry Combest of the neighboring Texas's 19th congressional district; 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 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

From 1980 to 1990, Stenholm was reelected without major-party opposition in his district. He ran unopposed in 1980 and from 1984 to 1990. Although the majority-white conservative voters of Texas had begun to vote for Republican presidential candidates and sometimes other candidates for national office, the Republican Party had not gained many members or support in much of this area. Well into the 1990s, the white majority continued to elect conservative Democrats for most of the 17th district's local offices.
But in 1994, Stenholm was held to 53 percent of the vote by a relatively unknown Republican candidate. Across the district, dozens of other moderate and conservative Democrats were defeated by Republicans, demonstrating the realignment within the white majority of the area. 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. Afterward, Stenholm ran for House Minority Whip, losing to David E. Bonior. While he was reelected four more times after that, Stenholm never gained more than a 60 percent majority, and he was nearly defeated in 1996 and 2002. By the end of the 20th century, Stenholm was the only Democrat elected above the county level in much of the 17th district. Observers thought it likely that, once he retired, he would be succeeded by a Republican.

Reelection defeat

Stenholm was considered a major target of the Republican-dominated House in the redrawing of Texas' congressional districts in 2003, following the 2000 census. As House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, played a strong role in this effort, although the Texas legislature conducted the actual redistricting. Stenholm's district was dismantled and split among four districts. Most of his former territory, including his home in Abilene, was thrown into the majority-Republican, Lubbock-based 19th congressional district, represented by Combest's successor, Republican Randy Neugebauer. The next-biggest chunk of his old territory, including Stenholm's cotton farm, was thrown into the equally Republican Amarillo-based 13th district, represented by Mac Thornberry.
Stenholm chose to run in the reconfigured 19th. The new district contained 60 percent of Neugebauer's former territory, a disadvantage Stenholm which could not overcome despite his 13 terms of seniority. He lost by 18 percentage points in the November 2004 election, taking just over 40 percent of the vote. This was the only election since 1984, and the major shift by white voters into the Republican Party, that a Democrat won more than 40 percent of the vote in this district.

Post-Congressional career

Some major news organizations mentioned Stenholm as a possible candidate for Secretary of Agriculture in President Bush's second-term Cabinet, although Bush had supported the congressional redistricting plan. Bush nominated Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns, a fellow Republican, for the post.
After leaving Congress, Stenholm became a lobbyist, representing various agricultural interests, including the horse meat 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, 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. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.