WASHINGTON _ Pressure is mounting on Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton to drop his re-election plans.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, joined a number of key Republicans in his district calling for Barton to abandon his 18th congressional campaign.
"We must hold public officials to a high standard and recent publicized incidents demonstrate those standards were not met," Burton, an influential tea party leader, said in a statement.
She said Barton should not seek re-election "so that Tarrant County can move forward in making sure we send a strong conservative to Congress."
She's the latest Republican to call for Barton's exit, following recent revelations that the longtime congressman exchanged sexually explicit messages with women while still married to his former wife.
Barton apologized last week after nude images that he shared with at least one woman were mysteriously posted online. Authorities are now looking into whether he was a victim of a crime under Texas law prohibiting the release of intimate materials without the depicted person's permission.
This week, Tarrant County GOP chair Tim O'Hare said Barton should retire by year's end, a move that would spark a special election to fill his vacant seat.
GOP leaders for the other two counties Barton represents _ Navarro and Ellis _ did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.
"We have gotten to the point in this country where we will put up with anything. ... Decency has just gone out the window," O'Hare said in an interview with The Dallas Morning-News.
O'Hare said he worries that having Barton on the ballot in November could shift down-ballot races, especially at a time Democrats seek to regain ground in the critical mid-term elections.
"You would be naive to think it would have no effect," O'Hare said. "We don't want his indiscretions and lack of good judgment to take down two seats or three or four or 10."
And while Congress grapples with the issue of revenge porn, O'Hare is not so quick to rush to Barton's side.
"One, he was married while he did it. No. 2, he voluntarily took the picture," O'Hare said. "If we have a sitting U.S. congressman that doesn't have any better judgment than that, I don't know what to think about the future of our country."
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, William Busby, the head of the Arlington Republican Club, said a survey of members indicates the majority _ more than 80 percent _ want Barton to finish his term, but abandon his 2018 plans.
"As indicated by a survey of our membership, we hope Congressman Barton will reconsider his decision whether or not to seek re-election to the House of Representatives in 2018," Busby said.
