EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) initially intended to retire after accomplishing all the goals he originally ran on. But now the House Republican is eyeing even bigger wins after throwing his hat back in the ring.
Almost immediately after it was reported Green would not run for reelection, the three-term incumbent was flooded with phone calls from constituents urging him to reconsider. Those calls were later matched by nudges from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and former President Donald Trump — ultimately leading Green to mull another bid.
“I really started thinking about it again from the perspective of: I really needed to do the job,” Green told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “Everybody was just, like, ‘Look, if no one else, it’s you. You got to do this.’ And so I prayed about it with my wife, thought about it, and said, ‘OK, well, we’ll do another term.’ And that’s kind of how it happened.”
Green’s announcement he would seek another term sparked another reaction among constituents and colleagues — but, this time, with a sense of excitement.
“Oh my gosh, I got my phone blown up again,” Green said with a chuckle. “All of them have been [like], ‘Thank God.’”
That sentiment was even felt by some of Green’s colleagues on the other side of the aisle, he said, with at least one Democrat telling the Tennessee Republican he was “very glad you’re staying.”
As Green seeks to extend his congressional career by another two years, he told the Washington Examiner he intends to lead the House Homeland Security Committee, which has been thrust in the spotlight over the last few months — especially after the historic impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this month.
Although Green has not yet generated a new list of goals he would like to accomplish, the committee chairman hinted at big developments ahead.
“We’ll have two to three things for the next cycle — and they’ll be big things, not small stuff,” he said. “You know, like impeaching the first sitting Cabinet member. It’ll be stuff like that. Big, big things.”
Green helped make history after leading the charge to impeach Mayorkas earlier this month over his handling of the southern border. Now the chairman is pushing to secure a trial in the Senate, where Democratic leaders have balked at the impeachment as being politically motivated.
The House has not yet transferred the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber, with that process largely stalled due to government funding negotiations ahead of the shutdown deadline this week. However, Green said the House impeachment managers are working to assure a trial in the Senate before handing off the charges.
“We want to not give them an excuse to do anything else,” Green said. “So our goal is to just kind of negotiate with them and kind of figure out what they’re going to do before we send them up.”
Green’s decision to reverse his retirement makes him the fourth House Republican to do so thus far this Congress. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) announced early last year she would seek another term before reversing that decision months later. Reps. Pat Fallon (R-TX) and Matt Rosendale (R-MT) also expressed plans to run for other offices, later reversing course to run for reelection to their House seats.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
More than 40 House incumbents have already announced they won’t seek reelection in 2024, marking one of the highest retirement rates at this point in an election cycle over the last decade. That number includes 21 Republicans and 23 Democrats, according to a list compiled by the House Press Gallery.
The number of retirements is approaching but has not reached 2018’s total of 52 members who stepped down from office. That marked the most incumbent retirements recorded since the 1992 cycle, when 65 members opted not to run for reelection.
