Rep. Gene Green said he was confident he would have won reelection in 2018 but wanted to spend more time with his family after 46 years in public office. | David J. Phillip/AP Photo Rep. Gene Green to retire 'I think that it is time for me to be more involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren,' Green said in a statement.

Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green won’t seek reelection next year after serving more than two decades in Congress.

Green, who represents the Houston area, was first elected in 1992 and is a longtime member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Green said he was confident he would have won reelection in 2018 but wanted to spend more time with his family after 46 years in public office, including 20 years in the Texas legislature.


“I think that it is time for me to be more involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren,” Green said in a statement. “I have had to miss so many of their activities and after 26 years in Congress it is time to devote more time to my most important job of being a husband, father and grandfather.”

Green’s district, which is more than three-quarters Hispanic, is overwhelmingly Democratic. Green won his last election with more than 70 percent of the vote.

More than a dozen House members, mostly Republicans, have announced they won’t run for reelection or will seek higher office next year.

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Green also joins a wave of Texas delegation departures, including Republican Reps. Sam Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, Lamar Smith and Ted Poe and Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.