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Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced Wednesday that he plans to retire at the end of his term, joining a growing list of Republican committee leaders who say they won’t seek reelection.
Green, who is in his first term leading the committee, spearheaded the House Republican investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
On Tuesday, Mayorkas became the first sitting Cabinet secretary to be impeached — with Republicans succeeding in the public rebuke of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. The impeachment passed by a single vote. The Democratic-led Senate will now take up the case against Mayorkas, but the chamber is unlikely to convict him. A two-thirds majority is required to do so.
In a statement confirming his decision not to run for reelection to his House seat, Green said: “Our country — and our Congress — is broken beyond most means of repair. 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.”
Green also suggested he’d accomplished his mission in Congress, saying: “At the start of the 118th Congress, I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable. Today, with the House having passed [a border security bill] and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home.”
He joins several other House committee chairs who have announced they won’t seek reelection: House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Tex.), Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) and House Select Committee on China Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).
Green’s office says he is the only member of Congress to be selected at the start of a third term to chair a major legislative committee this century.
The Republican primary race to replace Green is slated to take place Aug. 1. Candidates have an April 4 deadline for primary ballot access, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Before being elected to Congress, Green served as a Tennessee state senator and officer in the U.S. Army, where he was a flight surgeon. In 2017, he was nominated by then-President Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the Army, but withdrew his name from consideration amid opposition to comments he had previously made about Islam, evolution and gender issues.
Green has continued to support Trump. Last year, Trump’s campaign announced that Green would be part of its “Tennessee Federal Leadership Team.”
Victoria Bisset and Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.