Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, made a surprise announcement on Wednesday that he plans to retire at the end of his current term, his third, a day after leading a successful effort to impeach Department 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.”
The congressman also noted that the “country—and our Congress—is broken beyond most means of repair.”
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“I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington,” Green said. “As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country–but in a new capacity.”
Green, 59, was elected to Congress in 2018. He is in his first term leading the committee, which conducted a months-long investigation into Mayorkas, culminating in the first impeachment of a Cabinet secretary since 1876 on Tuesday.
The impeachment passed by a single vote, 214-213. It was the second attempt to impeach Mayorkas, who was accused of “willfully refusing” to enforce border policy, as well as a “breach of the public trust,” after an initial vote failed last week. He is likely to be acquitted in the Senate.
Green’s plans came as a “shock” to his colleagues given the impeachment win, according to Politico.
He is the fifth Republican House committee chair to announce they won’t seek re-election—and one of more than a dozen House Republicans leaving Congress at the end of their current term.
Multiple sources told CNN on Wednesday that Green had “expressed interest” in running for Tennessee’s governorship. The current Republican governor’s term ends in 2027, with Bill Lee prevented from running again under term limit laws.
