Charles Walter Stenholm, an American businessman and Democratic Party politician from a rural Texas district, died on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at the age of 84.
Stenholm, who was born on October 26, 1938, established himself as the owner/operator of a big cotton plantation before entering politics.
In his first election, he was elected to Congress.
From 1979 until 2005, Stenholm served in the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party, representing Texas’s 17th congressional district.
He was noted for his conservative social views, and he was instrumental in garnering conservative Democratic support for President Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981, as well as approval of a new farm bill in 2002 that quadrupled farm subsidies for Texas agribusiness.
In 1992, he voted in favor of an amendment requiring the federal government to maintain balanced budgets.
Stenholm remained in Washington, DC after leaving House after being defeated by a Republican in 2004. He worked as a lobbyist for food and agricultural interests, notably with Olsson Frank Weeda, a Washington, DC-based law and lobbying firm.
During his presidency, Stenholm repeatedly disagreed with Democratic President Bill Clinton, voting for three of the four articles of impeachment against him. Yet, Stenholm was a harsh opponent of the budgetary policies of the succeeding Republican George W. Bush Administration.
He voted against making Bush’s tax cuts permanent because he was already opposed to tax cuts unless the budget was balanced.
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