Gene Green

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American politician (born 1947)

title: "Gene Green" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1947-births", "20th-century-members-of-the-texas-legislature", "21st-century-united-states-representatives", "21st-century-texas-politicians", "democratic-party-members-of-the-texas-house-of-representatives", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-texas", "democratic-party-texas-state-senators", "methodists-from-texas", "living-people", "politicians-from-houston", "university-of-houston-law-center-alumni"] description: "American politician (born 1947)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Green" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1947) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Gene Green
image	Rep. Gene Green.jpg
office	Chair of the House Ethics Committee
status	Acting
term_start	August 20, 2008
term_end	January 3, 2009
predecessor	Stephanie Tubbs Jones
successor	Zoe Lofgren
state1	Texas
district1
term_start1	January 3, 1993
term_end1	January 3, 2019
predecessor1	Constituency established
successor1	Sylvia Garcia
state_senate2	Texas
district2	6th
term_start2	May 27, 1985
term_end2	January 3, 1993
predecessor2	Lindon Williams
successor2	Dan Shelley
office3	Member of the Texas House of Representatives
term_start3	January 9, 1973
term_end3	May 27, 1985
predecessor3	J. W. Buchanan
successor3	Gene Haney
constituency3	95th district (1973–1981)
140th district (1981–1985)
birth_name	Raymond Eugene Green
birth_date
birth_place	Houston, Texas, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse	Helen Green
education	University of Houston (BA, JD)
module
::

In November 2017, Green announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term, and not run for re-election in 2018.

Early life, education, and early career

Green was born in Houston and he graduated from the University of Houston, earning a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1971 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1977. He held positions as a business manager and a private attorney prior to his election to Congress.

Texas legislature

Green was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected to the Texas Senate in 1985.

U.S. House of Representatives

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Ggmayorbrown.jpg" caption="Gene Green, former Houston mayor [[Lee P. Brown]], and others"] ::

Elections

Green was first elected to the U.S. House in 1992. Although the 29th was (then as now) drawn as a majority-Hispanic district, Green finished second in the five-way Democratic primary, behind city councilman Ben Reyes. Green defeated Reyes in the runoff by only 180 votes, all but assuring him of election in this heavily Democratic district. Green was reelected 12 times, never facing substantive electoral opposition. He ran unopposed in 1998, 2002 and 2004.

On November 13, 2017, Green announced his retirement. and easily won the general election.

Green left office in January 2019 after representing portions of eastern Houston for 46 years, having never lost an election.

Tenure

In the 115th Congress, Green was the only non-Hispanic white Democrat representing a significant portion of Houston, and one of only three in the entire Texas delegation (the others being Lloyd Doggett and Beto O'Rourke).

From 1996 until his retirement in 2019, Green was a member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. In 2011, he became Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy. He also served on the Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Legislative issues

Since being elected to the House of Representatives, Green had been working on education, labor, energy, domestic manufacturing, health issues, NASA's Johnson Space Center, and Social Security and veterans benefits. He has worked to improve access to quality health care, support initiatives to improve our economy and increased job training, and maintain financial aid for students.

Green voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution in 2002, and gave a speech on the house floor linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11 attacks in 2001. Despite the Democratic leadership's general disapproval of the war, Green voted against measures aimed at placing a timetable on military withdrawal.

In September 2004, he proposed the Every Vote Counts Amendment, which would have abolished the U.S. electoral college in United States presidential elections.

Green proposed legislation addressing domestic and global electronic waste (e-waste) concerns. H.R. 2284, The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act of 2011, was introduced in the 112th Congress to prohibit the exportation of some electronics whose improper disposal may create environmental, health, or national security risks.

Green also served on the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health during drafting of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and helped write and amend the legislation. Afterward, he worked for increased access to affordable and quality health care.

Committee assignments

Committee on Energy and Commerce

;Caucus memberships

References

Wallace, Jeremy. (November 13, 2017). "Gene Green stepping aside after more than two decades in Congress". [[Houston Chronicle]].
Fenwick, Amanda. (2018-11-15). "U.S. Congressman Gene Green To Deliver Commencement Address". [[San Jacinto College]].
Shay, Miya. (2018-03-06). "Senator Garcia expected to take Congressman Gene Green's seat in Congress". [[KTRK-TV]].
"Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus.
"Members". Afterschool Alliance.
"Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus.
"Members". U.S. - Japan Caucus.

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