Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign in January
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced Friday that she is resigning her seat, following weeks of clashes with President Donald Trump.
“If I am pushed aside by MAGA Inc and replaced by the neocons, big pharma, big tech, the military-industrial war complex, foreign leaders, and the elite donor class who can’t even relate to real Americans, then many ordinary Americans will also be pushed aside and replaced,” Greene said in a statement posted on social media.
“Until then, I return to the people I love, to live life to the fullest as I always have, and I look forward to a new path forward. I will resign from my position and my last day will be January 5, 2026,” she wrote.
The stunning announcement comes a week after Trump officially said he was fed up with Greene’s growing criticism of him and said he was withdrawing his support for his longtime ally.
Responding to the announcement Saturday in a Truth Social article, Trump called Greene a “traitor” and said she chose to quit “due to falling poll numbers and not wanting to face a primary challenger with strong Trump support (where she would have no chance of winning!).”
Until recently, Greene — who claimed Trump inspired her to first run for Congress — was one of the president’s most vocal allies in Congress. But in recent weeks, she began breaking with him over issues such as the release of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, his stance on the war in Gaza, the expansion of Obamacare subsidies and, more broadly, whether he was still the “America First” president the base believed in.
Greene was first elected in 2020. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will have to call a special election sometime in 2026 to fill Greene’s heavily Republican district, which she won by 29 points last year.
In her resignation message Friday, Greene said she did not want her district to endure a “hurtful and hateful primary” led by Trump.
“I have too much self-respect and dignity, I love my family way too much, and I don’t want my lovely district to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me from the President we all fought for, for the sole purpose of fighting and winning my election when the Republicans will likely lose the midterm elections,” Greene wrote.
Greene, known for speaking to reporters in the halls of Congress, declined Friday to speak to NBC News, saying she was not doing hallway interviews that day.
During an interview last month with NBC News amid the government shutdown, Greene did not give a definitive answer when asked if she was committed to running for the House.
“Oh, definitely not, I didn’t do anything like that,” Greene said. “Honestly, I’m not even thinking about it right now. I’m just like, what the hell, why don’t we go back to work?”
Greene’s backlash against Trump and his Republican colleagues in recent weeks has fueled speculation about her future political ambitions. She rejected a NOTUS report earlier this month that she was interested in a presidential bid in 2028.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene is having a moment,” Ryan Girdusky, a conservative consultant, said in an interview last week with NBC News. “She’s in the process of rebranding, and she’s doing really, really well. She’s been really, really talented right now.”
Speaking about the Republican Party’s losses in off-year elections, Greene said Republicans lack the motivation to vote.
“Many Republican voters who turned out in large numbers in 2024 currently feel disenfranchised and do not feel motivated to vote,” Greene said.
Greene’s decision will create even more headaches for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with a shrinking Republican majority, which currently stands at 219 seats to Democrats’ 213. By the time Greene resigns, there will have been a special election in Tennessee in December for a seat that the GOP is favored to win, but where Democrats see an outside chance. And there are two other special elections in blue-leaning seats that Democrats are heavily favored to hold early next year.
Greene did not inform Johnson of her resignation, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC News. Although the two men did not have a good relationship, with Greene filing a motion last year to oust Johnson as speaker, members typically gave their party leadership some sort of advance notice about an announcement of this magnitude.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., another Republican who drew Trump’s ire after disagreeing with his agenda, expressed support for Greene on social media Friday evening.
“I am very sad for our country but so happy for my friend Marjorie. I will miss her dearly. She embodies what a true representative should be. Everyone should read her statement; there is more honesty expressed in these four pages than most politicians will say in a lifetime,” Massie wrote, reposting Greene’s statement with her resignation.
Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who joined forces with Greene to force the release of the Epstein files, said she could still have a bright future in politics.
“MTG will probably be a tremendous candidate for 2028,” Khanna told NBC News Friday evening. “His positions on Epstein, on AI regulation, and against war resonate more with MAGA voters than JD Vance.”
