Greene said her last day would be January 5, 2026. Her resignation will narrow the Republican majority in the House to 218 members over the Democrats’ 213. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Conservative influencer Laura Loomer said Greene’s departure from Congress would hamper Trump’s agenda ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. “She wants the Democrats to win,” Loomer said on the social platform X.
Greene was one of the most vocal and visible supporters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” politics, and she embraced some of his unapologetic political style.
Her break with him was a notable fissure in his grip over conservatives, particularly his most ardent base. But her decision to step down in the face of his opposition put her on the same track as many of the more moderate establishment Republicans before her who went crosswise with Trump.
The congresswoman, who recorded the video announcing her resignation while sitting in her living room wearing a cross necklace and with a Christmas tree and a peace lily plant behind her, said, “My life is filled with happiness, and my true convictions remain unchanged, because my self-worth is not defined by a man, but instead by God”.
Greene had been closely tied to the Republican president since she launched her political career in 2020.
In her video, she underscored her longtime loyalty to Trump except on a few issues, and said it was “unfair and wrong” that he attacked her for disagreeing.
“Loyalty should be a two-way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest, because our job title is literally ‘representative’,” she said.
Greene swept to office at the forefront of Trump’s MAGA movement and swiftly became a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her often beyond-mainstream views. In her video, Greene said she had “always been despised” in Washington and “just never fit in”.
Greene speaking ahead of then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a campaign event in Atlanta in late 2024.Credit: AP
As she embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory and appeared with white supremacists, Greene was opposed by party leaders but welcomed by Trump. He called her “a real WINNER!”
Yet over time she proved a deft legislator, having aligned herself with then-Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to become House speaker. She was a trusted voice on the right flank, until McCarthy was ousted in 2023.
While there has been an onslaught of lawmakers from both parties heading for the exits ahead of next year’s midterm elections, as the House struggles through an often chaotic session, Greene’s announced retirement will ripple throughout the ranks – and raise questions about her next moves.
She was first elected to the House in 2020. She initially planned to run in a competitive district in northern Atlanta’s suburbs, but relocated to the much more conservative 14th District in Georgia’s northwest corner.
Greene at a rally with Trump in 2021.Credit: AP
The opening in her district means Republican Governor Brian Kemp will have to set a special election date within 10 days of Greene’s resignation. Such a special election would include party primaries and a general election to fill out the remainder of Greene’s term through January 2027. Those elections could take place before the party primaries in May for the next two-year term.
Even before her election, Greene showed a penchant for harsh rhetoric and conspiracy theories, suggesting a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was a coordinated attack to spur support for new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the idea that the US government perpetrated the attacks on September 11, 2001, and mused that a “so-called” plane had hit the Pentagon.
She was once a sympathiser with QAnon, an online network that believes a global cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals, including US government leaders, operates a child sex-trafficking ring. She eventually distanced herself, saying she got “sucked into some of the things I had seen on the internet”.
When Trump was out of power between his first and second terms, Greene was often a surrogate for his views and brash style in Washington.
Greene before Trump addressed a joint session of Congress in March.Credit: AP
While then-president Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address in 2022, Greene stood up and began chanting “build the wall,” referring to the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump began in his first term.
Last year, when Biden gave his last State of the Union address, Greene again drew attention as she confronted him over border security and the killing of a nursing student from Georgia by an immigrant in the country illegally.
Greene, wearing a red MAGA hat and a T-shirt about Riley, handed the president a button that said “Say Her Name.” The congresswoman then shouted that at the president midway through his speech.
But this year, her first serving with Trump in the White House, cracks began to appear slowly in her steadfast support – before it broke wide open.
Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking Republican donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win.
Greene took the side of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, much to the chagrin of Trump.Credit: AP
Greene’s restlessness only intensified in July, when she announced she wouldn’t run for Georgia governor, either.
She was also frustrated with the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, which worked in lockstep with the president.
Greene said in her video that “the legislature has been mostly sidelined” since Republicans took unified control of Washington in January and her bills “just sit collecting dust”.
“That’s how it is for most members of Congress’ bills,” she said. “The speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote.”
Republicans will likely lose the midterms elections next year, Greene said, and then she’d “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.”
“It’s all so absurd and completely unserious,” she said.
