GOP’s House Majority Shrinks After ‘Big, Beautiful’ Victory

The Republican majority in the House has shrunk by one with the official resignation of Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) following the passage of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” this month.

In the House chamber on Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced Green’s exit and said it left the lower chamber with 431 members. The party breakdown is now 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats. There are three vacant seats left by Democrats who recently died. Special elections are expected to pick their replacements in the coming months.

Green announced “with a heavy heart” last month that he planned to retire from Congress after one more vote on the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” That happened on July 3, when the House sent the legislation to President Donald Trump via the budget reconciliation process just before his Independence Day deadline.

First elected to the House in 2018, Green worked his way to becoming chairman of the Homeland Security panel and helped oversee efforts to pass a major border security bill and impeach Biden DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The lawmaker, who was just re-elected in November by defeating his Democrat challenger by more than 20 points, said he was leaving Congress after being offered a private sector job that he could not refuse.

“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,” Green said in his statement. “By overseeing the border security portion of the reconciliation package, I have done that. After that, I will retire.”

A special election is now expected to pick a replacement for Green to serve out the remainder of his two-year term as representative for the 7th Congressional District of Tennessee. Some people in the Republican and Democrat camps have announced campaigns for the seat. Green endorsed Matt Van Epps, an Army veteran and former Tennessee Department of General Services commissioner, to be his successor.

The Hill reported that the House GOP Steering Committee is expected to select a new chair of the homeland security panel on Monday evening. The candidates for the top role include Reps. Clay Higgins (R-LA), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Michael Guest (R-MS).