Rep. Ralph Hall (R)

The congressman from the 4th District is Ralph Hall, who was born in 1923 and first elected in 1980. He turned 86 in 2009 and is the oldest member of the House; he is also the dean of the Texas delegation in Congress. Hall grew up in Rockwall County, served in the Navy during World War II as a lieutenant and aircraft carrier pilot, and had a 30-year career in local politics and business before coming to Washington. He got his law degree from Southern Methodist University, was a county judge in the 1950s, and from 1962 to 1972, served in the Texas Senate. In 1980, he was elected to the House as a Democrat. His evolution to the Republican Party was a long time in gestation. He supported just about everything in the GOP’s Contract with America policy agenda in 1995 and was one of only five House Democrats who voted to impeach President Bill Clinton. He voted for Bush administration policies on taxes, trade and foreign policy. (But Hall is not a pure free marketer. He voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement.) During the 2002 campaign, he promised to vote for Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert if his vote decided which party would control the House. And in January 2003, he voted “present” rather than vote for liberal Democrat Nancy Pelosi for speaker, because, he said, “she just don’t think like we do.”

Republicans restlessly waited for years for Hall to join them. When he failed to switch after the 2001 redistricting, local and national Republicans expressed interest in a serious challenge to Hall. But they backed off after Hall met with President George W. Bush at the White House and the president strongly opposed a challenge. In March 2003, Hall was the only Democrat to vote for the Republican budget, which barely passed. Bush called to thank him. “I didn’t want him to have a setback in Washington, D.C., when he’s working his heart out two oceans away to win a war,” Hall said. The 2003 redistricting finally convinced Hall to change parties. With Republican candidates lined up to run against him, he switched parties on January 2, 2004, the final day for filing. He said that his Democratic Party affiliation was limiting his ability to get appropriations for his district. And so Hall moved from being the most conservative Democrat in the House to a relatively centrist Republican.

When he joined their side, Republicans rewarded him with the chairmanship of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, an attractive perk for a Texan. Hall helped to enact the energy bill of 2005, and later fought Democratic proposals to raise taxes on oil companies. When Republicans lost the majority in 2007, Hall became the ranking Republican of a full committee, the Science and Technology Committee. He has collaborated with Chairman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., on the $20 billion reauthorization of NASA programs in 2008 and on energy research and development.

Party-switching has played well at home. With support from Bush and then-Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Hall won 77% against two opponents in the Republican primary in 2004 and went on to win in the general, 68%-30%, his largest margin in more than a decade. The Dallas Morning News was less impressed, urging Hall to retire. He has won the subsequent elections with over 60% of the vote. When Hall retires, his son, Rockwall County District Judge Brett Hall, a Republican, is said to be interested in running for the seat.