Trivial by comparison

The Oxford English Dictionary added "sexting" in 2011, a few months after New York Rep. Anthony Weiner accidentally posted an explicit photo of himself on his public Twitter account. He resigned within weeks.

Barton's transgression seems trivial compared to the allegations against Charlie Rose or Harvey Weinstein, who abused their clout in newsrooms and Hollywood to pressure subordinates for sex.

Nor do Barton's lewd messages compare to the allegations facing Roy Moore, the U.S. Senate nominee in Alabama accused of illegal sexual contact with a 14-year-old when he was a prosecutor in his 30s, and of sexual assault on a 16-year-old.

The Texan's situation also differs from misdeeds by Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat who recently apologized for a photo that shows him groping — or simulating it — a fellow performer during a USO tour in 2006.

But congressional careers have ended over less explicit sexting than Barton's.

In February 2011, Rep. Christopher Lee, a Republican from upstate New York, abruptly resigned after the website Gawker revealed that he'd sent a bare-chested photo of himself and other "flirtatious e-mails" to a woman he'd contacted through Craigslist.

The photos weren't nudes. There was no masturbation. But Lee was married and the father of a young boy, and had lied by telling the woman he was a divorced lobbyist. He also used his congressional email account.

(Gawker went bankrupt in 2016 and was shuttered after it published video showing former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan having sex with a friend's wife. Hogan sued for invasion of privacy.)

Other Texans

Barton isn't the first Texan in Congress caught up in a sex scandal.

In 1976, a former secretary accused Rep. John Young, a Corpus Christi Democrat, of demanding sexual favors in exchange for a pay raise. He denied it, insisting that those repeated visits to motels were actually secret meetings with military officials.

Young's wife killed herself in 1977. The next year, voters ousted him, ending a 22-year House career.

Young sued The New York Times for libel, along with his accuser's lawyer. The $6 million lawsuit was thrown out, and he died in 2002 after a post-congressional career as a lobbyist.

As for the rival who beat Young in the 1978 primary, Joseph Wyatt of Victoria — he would serve just one term. The former state lawmaker and aide to Lyndon Johnson was arrested shortly after taking office on charges of forcible sex with another man. He didn't seek re-election.

Then there was John Tower, who represented Texas in the Senate for 24 years. In 1989, he became the first Cabinet nominee rejected in three decades, his bid to become secretary of defense derailed by allegations of heavy drinking and womanizing, and questions about his ties with defense contractors.

Deadline looming

Barton's opponents have two weeks to decide whether to jump into the March primary, and likewise, he has two weeks to decide whether to stick by the decision announced three weeks ago to seek an 18th term.

At last check, he had $400,000 in his campaign account — plenty to scare off challengers in ordinary times but not nearly enough for a protracted fight if an opponent decides to use the sexting scandal to smear him.

"I don't think he's that politically vulnerable," said Allan Saxe, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Arlington who has tracked Barton's career for years. "I think most people will slough it off. They may laugh or giggle but then go about their business."

He compared Barton — favorably — to Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood, a Republican who resigned in disgrace in 1995 after dozens of women accused him of unwanted sexual advances. For years, Packwood was known to accost aides, journalists and lobbyists in elevators at the Capitol, and the Senate Ethics Committee recommended expulsion.

"We lump all these together. They need to be separated out. ... Joe Barton didn't grab anybody. Nothing was nonconsensual in this as far as we know," Saxe said. "We love to see the powerful fall, but it's a private matter that unfortunately went public. It's embarrassing, but that's all.

"It must be a nightmare for him," he said.