Tennessee State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) is calling on incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) to reconsider retiring from Congress and instead run for re-election.
“People have asked me about running for Congress and here are my thoughts. Mark Green is a tough act to follow! As far as I’m concerned, he is the one who needs to be our representative in Congress,” Roberts (pictured above) said in a statement to The Tennessee Star. “I’m going to say publicly what I know a lot of Tennesseans think: we wish he would run for reelection! He is doing a great job for us in Congress and he is the one we need fighting the fight on our behalf.”
Roberts added, “I hope Mark will reconsider and run for reelection!”
The state senator’s remarks come more than a week after expressing interest in the foreseeable open seat, telling The Star at the time that he was considering his options, touting his “long track record as a constitutional conservative.”
Roberts’ remarks also come days after Tennessee State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) also passed on launching a bid for Green’s U.S. House seat.
Green, who serves as the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced his decision not to seek reelection on February 14, one day after successfully leading the House impeachment vote of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Elected to Congress in 2018, Green made history as he is the only member of Congress to be selected at the start of his or her third term to chair a major legislative committee this century.
So far, the only Republican to launch a candidacy for Green’s U.S. House seat has been former State Representative Brandon Ogles.
Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a Democrat, launched her campaign for the seat in December 2023.
Meanwhile, three other possible GOP candidates – Dr. Omar Hamada, Robby Starbuck, and Jeff Beierlein – have since expressed an interest to The Star in representing Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District amid Green’s retirement.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Dr. Green is Fantastic in Congress …. and he will be Fantastic in his next office too.
We need conservative men and women of excellence and with backbone in both the federal and state level of government, in both the legislative and the executive branches of government.
.My thoughts too.
I hope Mark Greene changes his mind too. We need fighters who are America First in Congress, but don’t blame him for being frustrated…