Rep. Mark Green resigns, narrowing GOP’s edge in House

The congressman from Tennessee resigned his seat on Monday evening to pursue a role in the private sector. Green plans to start a new business but has given few details about his next step. He leaves the chairmanship of the House Homeland Security Committee. His departure further narrows the margins in the House for the GOP conference. Republicans now hold 119 seats in the chamber and can lose only three votes to pass legislation without help from Democrats.

Green, who has represented the Volunteer State’s 7th Congressional district since 2019, first announced his resignation plan last month. He promised Republican leadership he would remain in office until the passage of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Green published a farewell video the day after its passage.

“Duty to this nation has defined who I am, but now it’s time for me to begin a new chapter,” Green said in a departure video. “I now go back into the private sector to start my own company. And while I cannot give the details here, I will be doing something specifically designed to help America compete against the [Chinese Communist Party]—but this time in business.”

In his early career, Green served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. He later became a flight surgeon and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. As a lawmaker, Green served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2013-2018 before joining the U.S. Congress in January of 2019.

What will happen to Green’s seat in Congress? A primary is expected to take place in October, with a general election to follow in December. A spokesperson for the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office confirmed to WORLD that Governor Bill Lee has yet to present a writ of election formally setting up dates to fill the vacancy.

Green won Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District safely in 2024 by a margin of 21%. The Cooks Political Report assessed the seat as an R+10 district, making the election of a Republican highly likely.

With the addition of Green’s resignation, there are now four vacancies in the House of Representatives. The other three vacancies were created earlier this year by the deaths of Rep. Garry Connolly, D-Va., Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Tx.

What responsibilities does Green leave behind? Green served the House GOP as Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The House Steering Committee announced on Monday that Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., will fill the role. Garbarino has a background in law, having graduated from Hofstra University School of Law. He served in the New York General Assembly from 2013-2020 and became a member of Congress in 2021.

Committee chairmen help set the legislative direction of the body and are charged with writing bills on their respective jurisdictions.

Dig deeper: Republicans came into the year with slight margins. What were some of the changes from the 2024 elections that shook up the makeup of the House of Representatives?