Feb. 14 (UPI) — House Homeland Security Chairman and Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee announced Wednesday he will retire from Congress when his term ends in less than a year. The announcement comes one day after he oversaw the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“At the start of the 118th Congress, I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable,” Green said in a statement. “Today with the House having passed H.R. 2 and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home.”
“Our country — and our Congress — is broken beyond most means of repair,” Green added. “I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington. As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country — but in a new capacity.”
I’m announcing my retirement from Congress. https://t.co/6WKTWCpimU pic.twitter.com/eg7KfuLtxs— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) February 15, 2024
In announcing he would not seek re-election, Green — who was first elected to the House in 2018 — did not elaborate on what he will do next.
Green’s name is among those being floated as a possible 2026 Republican candidate for governor, The Tennessean reported. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s term ends in 2027.
Green, a doctor and retired U.S. Army major, served Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District for three terms.
Green served as a flight surgeon during the mission that captured Saddam Hussein and later wrote about his experience interviewing the Iraqi leader in a book called “A Night with Saddam.”
Green joins a number of Republicans — and GOP committee chairs — who have announced they will not seek reelection, including House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger, R-Texas.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., announced Saturday he will also not seek re-election, following his controversial vote not to impeach Mayorkas, saying “Congress is no place to grow old.”
