October 1, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.
Greene, in a more than 10-minute video posted online, explained her decision and said she didn’t want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for,” she said.
Greene’s resignation followed a public falling-out with President Donald Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.
Trump said he would endorse a challenger against her when she ran for reelection next year.
She said her last day would be Jan. 5, 2026.
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.
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 five years ago.
In her video on Friday, 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 quickly became a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her views. In her video on Friday, Greene said she had “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.”
Yet over time she proved a deft legislator, having aligned herself with then-GOP 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.
Greene 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.
The opening in her district means Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will have to set a special election date within 10 days of Greene’s resignation. Such a special election would 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.
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.
Last year, when then-President Joe Biden gave his last State of the Union address, Greene drew attention as she confronted him over border security and the killing of a nursing student from Georgia, Laken Riley, 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.
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.”
Messages left with House Speaker Mike Johnson's office were not immediately returned.
Republicans will likely lose the midterm 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. “I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better.”
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