Rep. Farenthold: Bill Maher is helping me

Rep. Blake Farenthold has attracted criticism from liberal TV talk show host Bill Maher, but that doesn’t bother the Texas Republican.

Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” has targeted Farenthold and other Republicans as part of his “Flip a District” campaign.

The show is looking at a number of Republicans and will pick one to defeat this fall.

{mosads}Farenthold told The Hill, “This is going to get me votes, but I’m worried about the Hollywood elite dumping a lot of money into the district I represent. My worry is it gets Hollywood interested and brings a lot of out-of-state money in, so I’m redoubling my fundraising efforts.”  

He said that any vote for a Democrat in Texas is a vote for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as Speaker.

He added, “[If] Nancy Pelosi is Speaker again, we lose control of the floor and we’re relegated to just voting no for the rest of that congressional session.”  

Asked about the makeup of his district, Farenthold said the Democrats in his district are unlikely to be swayed by Maher. The liberal TV host has acknowledged that Farenthold is unlikely to be picked because his district is quite red.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), a more plausible pick, has used Maher’s attacks in a fundraising email.

“Bill Maher is hardly the spokesman for traditional American values, in fact — he’s the opposite,” Grimm wrote.

President Obama won Grimm’s district in 2012.