(Headline USA) Tennessee Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green on Wednesday announced that he won’t run for a fourth term, pointing to the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just the day before as among the reasons it is “time for me to return home.”
“Our country–and our Congress–is broken beyond most means of repair,” Green said in a statement. “I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington.”
As chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Green was a driving force behind the Mayorkas impeachment push over his dereliction of duty on border security—the first impeachment of a Cabinet official since 1876.
Green’s panel conducted a months-long investigation of Mayorkas, his policies and his management of the department, ultimately concluding Tuesday that his conduct in office amounted to “high crimes and misdemeanors” worthy of impeachment.
Green has served since 2019 in the 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn in 2022 to include a significant portion of Nashville. He previously served as an Army surgeon and in the state Senate and is from Montgomery County.
Green flirted running for governor in 2017, but suspended his campaign after he was nominated by former President Donald Trump to become the Army secretary.
He later withdrew his nomination due to the misinterpretations of factually accurate statements he had made about Muslims and LGBT Americans, including saying that being transgender was a disease.
While leftists were eager to distort the remarks and take them out of context, gender dysphoria is clinically classified as a mental disorder, and many of those afflicted claim it as such in demanding that the cost of their transitions be covered under various healthcare programs.
Green also urged that a stand be taken against “the indoctrination of Islam” in public schools and referred to a “Muslim horde” that invaded Constantinople hundreds of years ago—something long regarded as historical fact in reference to the massive army, estimated at up to 120,000 Ottoman soldiers led by Mehmed II, that overwhelmed the Byzantine defenses in May 1453. A horde is defined as a large group or crowd.
After winning the congressional seat in 2018, Green once again made headlines by hosting a town hall where he stated that vaccines cause autism. He later walked back his comments but not before state health officials described the Republican as a “goofball.”
“As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country—but in a new capacity,” Green said Wednesday.
He did not disclose if he would run again for governor in 2026, when the seat will be up for grabs. Republican Gov. Bill Lee is prohibited from running under Tennessee’s gubernatorial term limits.
In 2022, Green’s middle Tennessee congressional seat was among seats that Republicans drastically carved up during redistricting. Those congressional maps are now facing a federal lawsuit, but that case isn’t scheduled to go to trial until April 2025.
So far on the Republican side, Caleb Stack has pulled petitions to run for the now open congressional district. Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry announced last year that she would run for the position as a Democrat.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
