The photo of a naked Mr. Barton, with his private parts obscured before it was posted, set off waves of speculation in Texas and Washington, where sexual harassment charges are roiling Capitol Hill. The tweets, which appeared on Monday, included an image of a sexually explicit text message, ostensibly sent by Mr. Barton, along with a cryptic reference to harassment.
It was not clear why the photo was posted. Lawmakers called and texted one another Tuesday night and Wednesday morning trying to discern whether the photo was authentic, but received no guidance from the party’s leadership or Mr. Barton.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, said Mr. Ryan had spoken to Mr. Barton on the matter but would “keep those conversations between the two of them.”
Mr. Barton is the longest-serving member of the Texas congressional delegation and was the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman when President George W. Bush was in the White House. He used that perch to promote the interests of his state’s oil and gas industry and even clashed with some fellow Republicans when his committee investigated scientists doing research on climate change.
He had lowered his sights more recently, telling associates that he hoped to claim the investigatory subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce panel. That subcommittee chairmanship is currently vacant because its most recent chairman, Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, resigned last month after it was revealed that he had encouraged his mistress to seek an abortion.
Unlike other veteran lawmakers who have retired after their time atop influential committees has come to an end, Mr. Barton had shown no interest in leaving Congress.
“I’m the odd duck who didn’t quit,” he joked to The Dallas Morning News in an interview this month.
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His personal life has been more turbulent than his political career. He divorced his first wife in 1993 and his second wife two years ago.
Mr. Barton has young children from his second marriage, and one of them, his 10-year-old son, was at the congressional baseball practice earlier this year when a man sprayed the field with bullets, gravely injuring Representative Steve Scalise, the majority whip, a lobbyist and a Capitol Police officer. Another police officer was injured as well. Mr. Barton is the longtime coach of the Republican baseball team.
Democrats were not planning to aggressively contest Mr. Barton’s conservative-leaning seat: His best-funded Democratic challenger, Jana Lynne Sanchez, had only $16,440 on hand as of the start of October.
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