Veteran lawmaker Green to retire
Long-serving Democratic Rep. Gene Green announces he won’t seek re-election, the latest Texas congressman to give up his seat this year.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Gene Green, one of the longest-serving Democrats from Texas in the U.S. Congress, won’t seek re-election.
A fixture in the Texas Legislature and Congress for nearly half a century, Green announced Monday that he will retire from politics at the end of his current term in 2018.
“I have been fortunate to have never lost an election since 1972, and I am confident that I still have the support of my constituents and would be successful if I ran for another term in Congress,” Green said in a statement. “However, I have decided that I will not be filing for re-election.”
Green’s retirement in a heavily Hispanic district in Houston’s working-class east side sparked an immediate scramble among Democrats with their eyes on an open seat in Congress. The sprawling 29th district extends around the Houston Ship Channel, including parts of South Houston and Pasadena, and loops up to pick up Aldine.
Green, rarely challenged at the polls, defeated former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia two years ago, maintaining his anomalous position as one of the few non-Hispanic congressmen in Texas representing largely Latino districts.
Among those exploring a run Monday was attorney Beto Cardenas, who worked for former U.S. Rep. Frank Tejeda, President Bill Clinton, and was a delegate to the 2000 Democratic Convention before serving as general counsel to Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is now President Donald Trump’s ambassador to NATO.
Other Democrats mentioned as potential contenders Monday include state Rep. Armando Walle, a former Green staffer. State Rep. Ana Hernandez and State Sen. Sylvia Garcia also are considered possible entrants.
Until now, Green’s longevity in city politics helped preserve Houston’s status as America’s largest Hispanic city without a Hispanic member of the U.S. House. Aware of that status, Green worked as-
“After 26 years in Congress, it is time to devote more time to my most important job of being a husband, father and grandfather.” U.S. Rep. Gene Green
siduously to serve constituent needs through job fairs, immunization drives, and town halls. He also worked to court the city’s top Latino activists.
“Congressman Gene Green has served our state with humility, compassion and tenacity,” said Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa. “With over four decades in elected office, Green has held the title of state representative, state senator, congressman, and above all, Texas Democrat.”
Green, who turned 70 last month, said the decision to leave was personal. “I think that it is time for me to be more involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren,” he said. “I have had to miss so many of their activities, and after 26 years in Congress, it is time to devote more time to my most important job of being a husband, father and grandfather.”
His decision comes at a time four other long-serving members of Congress have announced they won’t seek re-election. U.S. Reps. Sam Johnson, R-Plano; Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio; Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas; and Ted Poe, R-Atascocita, have all announced they won’t seek reelection.
Green was first elected to Congress in 1992 in a Houston district that was drawn to enhance the prospects for a Hispanic candidate. He was subsequently drawn out of that district in the controversial mid-decade redistricting plan of 2003, spearheaded by then U.S. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Sugar Land.
Finding himself suddenly placed in Poe’s looping district, Green decided to sell his house and move. He recalls telling DeLay: “I want to thank you for the new mortgage.”
Green’s new district was still more than 70 percent Hispanic, but he persevered in the polls, and in Congress, where he has become a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, championing jobs in his district’s oil and gas industry.
“Serving as an elected official is one of the greatest honors our country can bestow on a person,” Green said. “I have been blessed and fortunate to serve almost 46 years in elected office.”
In 2004, Green led an unsuccessful effort to abolish the Electoral College process for electing presidents.
Green is a Houston native who graduated from Jeff Davis High School and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston in 1971. He also received his law degree from the University of Houston.
With Green’s decision, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, becomes the longest serving Democrat. Both she and Green were elected in 1992, the year Clinton was elected president.