Veteran Texas Congressman Al Green Loses Primary to Younger Challenger

May 28

Al Green, a 20-year congressional veteran known for confronting President Trump on the House floor, lost Tuesday's Democratic primary runoff for Texas' 18th Congressional District to freshman Rep. Christian Menefee.

Rep. Christian Menefee, left, defeated longtime Congressman Al Green in Texas’ 18th Congressional District Democratic primary runoff Tuesday.

(EEW MAGAZINE) -- Rep. Al Green, a Houston-area Democrat who has served in Congress since 2005, lost his seat Tuesday to freshman Rep. Christian Menefee in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas' 18th Congressional District, a race shaped by redistricting, generational contrast, and millions in outside spending from the cryptocurrency industry.

Menefee, 38, defeated Green, 78, after neither candidate cleared the 50 percent threshold needed in the March 3 primary to avoid a runoff. The contest was created when Texas Republicans redrew the state's congressional maps last year, forcing the two Democratic incumbents into the same district. Menefee had been sworn into Congress in February after winning a January special election to fill the seat left vacant by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner.

Green is known for his vocal opposition to President Donald Trump, including standing on the floor of the House to call for the president's removal. He filed three separate articles of impeachment against Trump last year, citing abuses of power and allegations that Trump incited death threats against lawmakers and judges. He was the second Democrat to file an article of impeachment against Trump during the president's first term in 2017. For two consecutive years, Green was escorted out of Trump's addresses to Congress.

Green's opposition to cryptocurrency also made him a target. Fairshake, a pro-crypto super PAC, spent heavily in the runoff to unseat him. "Rep. Green's defeat proves that anti-crypto hostility carries real electoral consequences," said Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter.

Despite the loss, Green struck a forward-looking tone with supporters. "This is not the end. This is the beginning of a new chapter," he said.

Menefee honored his predecessor while drawing a sharp contrast with the Republican-led process that set up the race. "Republicans have made this hard on purpose," he told supporters. "They drew maps designed to dilute our power." He praised Green as an "icon" who "spoke truth to power, directly to their faces, without flinching."

Trump responded on Truth Social with characteristic bluntness and irreverence, congratulating "the Dumocrat Party" on the result. "Al Green, one of the most mentally deficient Congressmen in the history of our Country, has lost, in a landslide, his seat in Congress," Trump wrote. "But I will miss that lunatic not screaming and violently waving his cane at me during my next State of the Union Speech."

Source: Associated Press / The Hill