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GOP House Member Retires, Cutting Into the Already Razor-Thin Majority

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 22, 2025 12:00 PM

It’s not the news we want to hear, but thus far, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) have been able to pass core pieces of the Trump agenda, albeit with considerable heartburn. Credit where it’s due: these two Republican leaders got the reconciliation and rescission packages through with these slim majorities, with one about to get smaller. 

Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) is out the door. He promised to stick around for these key votes, and now he’s leaving for a new job. The House Republicans now have a one-seat majority. There are 219 Republicans, 212 Democrats, and four vacancies (via Fox News): 

Rep. Mark Green's last day in office was Sunday, leaving 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

With Green's departure, there are now 431 House members and four vacancies, including those from late Democratic Reps. Sylvester Turner of Texas, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, and Gerry Connolly of Virginia. 

Green, the Republican from Tennessee, said last month that he would leave Congress for the private sector once the House voted again on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," in a statement first obtained by Fox News Digital. 

"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. As a result, today I notified the Speaker and the House of Representatives that I will resign from Congress as soon as the House votes once again on the reconciliation package," Green said. 

We don’t know what Green’s new venture is. I’d rather wish him luck at the end of his current term, instead of him leaving us in the lurch like this.