Congressional district, on April 26 he announced that he would challenge incumbent Representative George W. Grider, and on May 25 he formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the district. He won the Republican nomination without opposition and in the general election he narrowly defeated Grider with 52.16% of the vote. He easily won reelection in the 1968 and 1970 elections by over 25% both times. During the 1968 presidential election he supported Richard Nixon and stated that "a vote for Wallace is a vote for Humphrey". After the 1970 census Tennessee lost a congressional district and the General Assembly moved Kuykendall to the 8th congressional district with Republican areas in his former district being replaced with Democratic areas. He won reelection in 1972 elections against black pastor J. O. Patterson Jr., but by only 11.25%. Kuykendall established himself as one of the House's most conservative members and was known for being long-winded to the point of what many felt was verbosity, and as a consequence was given the derisive nickname "The Tennessee Talking Horse". During his tenure he served on the Interstate and Foreign Committee and Subcommittee on Aeronautics and Transportation and in 1971 he cosponsored an attempt to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, but nothing came of it and Douglas retired in 1975. Watergate During the Watergate scandal and the ensuing impeachment process he defended President Richard Nixon. He blamed "nonpoliticians" for Watergate by placing blame onto people such as Attorney General John N. Mitchell, stated that those who supported impeachment were trying to lynch Nixon, and he agreed with Nixon's decision to dismiss special prosecutor Archibald Cox. When the House decided to investigate the case for impeachment on October 23, 1973 Kuykendall came to the House floor with a noose and warned the other members against using lynch law tactics. However, on August 5, 1974 he stated that he would reexamine his position on impeachment due to Nixon having refused to hand over evidence to the House and stated that he would support impeachment shortly before Nixon's resignation. Following Vice President Spiro Agnew's resignation the House voted on House Minority Leader Gerald Ford's confirmation as vice president to President Nixon and all House Republicans vote in unanimity including Kuykendall. When the House voted on former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller's confirmation as vice president to President Gerald Ford, he was one of 153