FILE PHOTO: U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) speaks alongside House Republican impeachment managers and other Senate Republicans during a press conference on the impeachment of U.S. Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 16, 2024. REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo
The narrowly divided House of Representatives is about to get even tighter.
Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement Monday afternoon that he notified House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) he plans to resign from Congress as soon as the House votes again on the reconciliation package.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress. Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up," Green said.
As of June, the partisan split in the bitterly divided chamber is 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with two seats currently vacant following the recent deaths of two Democratic members.
Green called it the "honor of a lifetime" to represent Tennessee in Congress.
"They asked me to deliver on the conservative values and principles we all hold dear, and I did my level best to do so. Along the way, we passed historic tax cuts, worked with President Trump to secure the border, and defended innocent life," he said.
Green touted as one of his accomplishments his leading role in impeaching former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, though the Senate later dismissed the charges, and passing the strongest border security legislation in history to "ever pass the House."
"However, my time in Congress has come to an end," he said.
"Though I planned to retire at the end of the previous Congress, I stayed to ensure that President Trump’s border security measures and priorities make it through Congress. By overseeing the border security portion of the reconciliation package, I have done that. After that, I will retire, and there will be a special election to replace me," he added.
Tennessee's 7th Congressional District is considered reliably Republican, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10, indicating a strong Republican lean compared to the national average. Green won his election last year with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Green had said he wouldn't seek re-election in February 2024 and was reportedly mulling a run for governor. That race is slated for 2027. Then-candidate Trump persuaded Green to stay in the race to help maintain GOP control of the House.