Rep. Farenthold 'most likely' running in new GOP seat

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) is "most likely" running in a new, heavily Republican seat that encompasses just a small portion of his current district.

"I live in the more Republican seat. I have an issue with people running in districts they don’t live in," he told The Hill. "If the map stands, I will most likely be running there — my wife doesn’t want to move."

Farenthold's heavily Latino district became even more Hispanic under a new court-drawn map. Republicans are challenging the map but it is likely to stand, and since the lines came out many predicted that Farenthold would run in the safely Republican district rather than face an uphill battle in the district where he has more constituents.

The freshman had almost no institutional support and was a surprise victor in 2010 over longtime Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas).

Other Republicans could run for the new seat, and Farenthold admitted he will likely have a tough primary ahead.

"I only keep 14 percent of my consistuents, so someone looking to make a name for themselves might run against me," he said. "But I’ve got a great record up here. My new consistuents, I’m going to say look, call somebody who lives in Corpus Christi that I represented and you’ll find out that I’ve done a great job staying in touch, a great job with constituent service, a great job listening to people, a great job on my votes. I’m happy on my record and I think the voters will be too."