How Al Green’s half-century in Houston public office ended

U.S. Rep. Al Green was defeated Tuesday in the Democratic primary runoff for the reconfigured 18th Congressional District, a turning point for one of Houston’s longest-serving political figures after two decades in Congress and nearly 50 years in elected office.

Shifting political maps have played a decisive role in Green’s career: first in creating the district that sent him to Washington, and now in reshaping the one that voted him out.

PRIMARIES 2026: See the results of Tuesday’s elections.

The changes reshaped the electorate and set up Green’s primary contest against U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee. 

Menefee, the former Harris County attorney, recently won a special election to finish the late Sylvester Turner’s term in the old 18th District. With his victory over Green on Tuesday, he is now the favorite to win a full term in the 18th’s new boundaries this November.

“I didn’t move to the 18th. The 18th moved to me,” Green said repeatedly on the campaign trail.

Tuesday capped a chaotic few years in the district: U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee and then Turner, a former Houston mayor, both died in office. As voters went months without representation, the district was redrawn. Residents were ultimately asked to vote in four separate elections for the same seat — including a rare contest that pitted two sitting members of Congress against each other. 

It was a prior redistricting cycle that took Green to Washington. 

Texas in 2004 overhauled its congressional maps, and Green resigned from a 26-year tenure as a Harris County justice of the peace to run in the newly drawn, Democratic-leaning 9th Congressional District in southwest Houston.

Green, 78, will remain in office until January. Speaking to reporters on election night, he said there is still work to do.

“This is moving to another chapter in life for me,” he said. “I plan to continue to have a career associated with service.”

Menefee, 38, campaigned on his record as county attorney litigating against state and federal officials and emphasized a more digitally engaged, coalition-building approach tailored to the newly drawn district.

Menefee said on election night that he and Green should never have been pitted against each other.

“Congressman Green, brother, I want to give you your flowers,” Menefee said. "I want to thank you for your service to people across Houston and Harris County."

Green on Tuesday said his legislative priorities have not shifted — he still intends to advocate for minorities, women’s rights, the LGBTQ+ community and said he will focus on creating a Slavery Remembrance Day. 

But while Green’s focus remains the same, some of Green’s longtime associates acknowledged the shifting political environment within the Democratic Party and the reckoning around age and generational leadership.

“We saw in succession two members of Congress from the 18th Congressional District pass away,” said Michael Adams, a political scientist with Texas Southern University. “It became a wedge issue in the campaign because of what we’ve been through in the 18th.”

Long before he arrived in Washington, Green had established himself in Houston’s civic and political life. 

First elected as a justice of the peace in 1977, he served in that role for nearly three decades. In the late 1980s, as president of the Houston branch of the NAACP, Green took over an organization whose membership had sharply declined and worked to rebuild it. 

James Douglas, former president of Texas Southern University, first met Green in 1971, when Douglas was a young law professor and Green a first-year law student.

“He’s a very ethical person,” Douglas said. “Nobody ever thought he went to Congress for his own gratification or economic benefit. He’s never going to compromise when it comes to what he thinks is right for his constituents.”

For much of his tenure, Green maintained what even allies described as a relatively low profile in Washington. Representing a largely minority district anchored in southwest Houston, he focused heavily on constituent services and committee work, particularly on the House Financial Services Committee.

Adams said Green was not known for shepherding high-profile legislation but built influence through seniority and committee assignments.

“In Congress, much of the work is done in committee,” Adams said. “Longevity matters.”

Green’s district was considered reliably Democratic, meaning the primary often decided the seat. That stability allowed him to accumulate seniority within the Congressional Black Caucus and develop relationships in Congress.

Within Houston, however, his public presence was sometimes overshadowed by Jackson Lee, whose district included the city’s historic Third Ward and whose political style was more visible.

Carroll Robinson, a former Houston City Council member and a longtime Green associate, described him as more of a “workhorse than a show horse.”

“He wasn’t trying to be the center of attention,” Robinson said. “He was interested in being effective.”

Green’s national visibility rose sharply during the presidency of Donald Trump.

In January 2017, he announced he would boycott Trump’s inauguration. Later that year, Green became the first member of Congress to file articles of impeachment against Trump. That effort initially failed to gain traction within the Democratic caucus but preceded the party’s formal impeachment votes in 2019 and 2020.

Green was removed from two of Trump’s addresses to Congress in consecutive years. After being escorted from last year’s State of the Union, he was formally censured by the House. In interviews following that first removal, Green cited advice from the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis about the need for peaceful but disruptive protest.

During this year’s State of the Union in February, Green was again escorted from the chamber after holding up a handwritten sign that read, “Black people aren’t apes!”

Adams said Green’s confrontations with Trump were consistent with a worldview shaped by the civil rights era.

“I don’t think he did it for electoral reasons,” Adams said. “He wanted to make a statement.”

The episodes elevated Green’s profile nationally, even as his focus at home remained centered on federal resources and constituent services.

Odus Evbagharu, a candidate for Texas House District 135 and a supporter of Menefee, described Green as “the epitome of a fighter” whose willingness to challenge powerful figures helped shape younger Democrats.

“A lot of us grew up watching that,” Evbagharu said. “He showed us that no matter how big the giant is, you stand up for what’s right.”

Green has not publicly indicated whether he intends to seek public office again after his term concludes in 2027. Those who know him say they expect him to remain active in Houston’s civic life regardless of his electoral status.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Robinson said. “Public service doesn’t end because an election does.”