Oldest Member Of Congress Airlifted -- And Joking -- After Car Wreck

[Statistikhengst]

Big thumbs up to this guy.

Photo source.

Oldest member of Congress airlifted after car wreck - CNN.com

The oldest sitting member of Congress was airlifted Saturday following a car accident in his native Texas, though the 91-year-old apparently took the flight in stride -- "joking with paramedics" on his way to Plano, according to his office.

Rep. Ralph Hall was being driven by his friend, 73-year-old Howard Zielke, when someone turned into them and collided with their vehicle around 2:50 p.m. (3:50 p.m. ET) in Fannin County, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported...

...Shortly after losing a Republican primary this spring to tea party-backed candidate John Ratcliffe, thus spelling an end to his 32-year stay in Congress, Hall cracked: "I figured it out -- damn guy got more votes than I did!"


He pointed out, too, that he couldn't get unemployment yet since he has "a job here until December 31st."


"At 91-years-old a contract for six months -- you can't beat it," he said then, referring to the rest of his term in the House.

Good for him that he was not seriously injured. Best wishes to Rep. Hall for a speedy recovery.

Ralph Hall - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Rep. Hall started as a Democrat and switched to the Republican Party in Texas in 2004.
He has represented Texas' 4th congressional district now since 1981, so when he goes out in January, 2015, he will have served for 34 years in the HOR.

Unbelievably, there have only been three representatives from TX-04 over the last 101 years:

Sam Rayburn-D (1913-1961), 48 years, he died in office. The seat stayed vacant until 1962.
Ray Roberts-D (1962-1981), 19 years.
Ralph Hall-D, then R (1981-2015), 34 years.

Wow.

These days, TX-04 is a rock-solid bastion GOP CD, with Hall winning with no less than 64.4% in the last 5 cycles (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012). He won with 73% in 2012 and yet, he was toppled by a Tea Party candidate in the Texas primaries in this year. I suspect that his age played the larger role in that primary than any complaints that he is not Conservative enough.

Any Democrat who competes in TX-04 is nothing more than a sacrificial lamb at this point in history.

I would say that we could use more politicians with Rep. Hall's humor.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Three reps in 101 years, good god we need term limits.

 

[Statistikhengst]

Three reps in 101 years, good god we need term limits.

I agree with you on that point.