TN-Sen: On Saturday, freshman GOP Rep. Mark Green, a favorite of far-right groups, reiterated that he was still considering running to succeed retiring Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander. Green didn’t offer a timeline for his decision, but he did insist that he was willing to run in the primary against former Gov. Bill Haslam, who’s weighing a bid himself and said on Saturday he’d make up his mind “in the next two or three weeks.” Physician Manny Sethi is already seeking the GOP nod.
Green, a former state senator, was only elected to the 7th Congressional District in Middle Tennessee last year, but his ugly history of Islamophobia and transphobia made him a far-right icon long before then. Addressing a group of tea partiers in 2017, Green said that he would “not tolerate" teaching the "pillars of Islam" in textbooks, and he specifically told a man who raised fears of armed violence from people who "don't belong here, like Muslims in the United States" that he'd asked a "great question."
In the legislature, Green sponsored a bill that would have allowed healthcare practitioners to refuse treatment to LGBT patients. He also pushed a measure to force transgender students to use the school bathroom matching their legal gender, explaining he had a responsibility to "crush evil." He even said in 2016, “If you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you transgender is a disease.”
Green went on to launch a bid for governor the following year, but he dropped out after Donald Trump nominated him to become secretary of the Army. However, Green’s ugly history was too much even for the Republican Senate, and he had to withdraw his nomination.
Unfortunately, the debacle only elevated Green’s standing at home. Later that year, when then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn launched what would prove to be a successful Senate campaign, Green quickly announced he would run to succeed her in the 7th District. A few other Republicans talked about running, but in the end, Green had the primary all to himself, and he had no trouble winning the general election for this safely red seat.
Green then proceeded to generate more ugly headlines just before he was sworn in. In December of last year Green, who somehow is a medical doctor, suggested that the Centers for Disease Control was hiding data on a link between vaccines and autism. This purported “link” has been debunked time after time after time, but that didn’t stop Green from telling a town hall, “I have committed to people in my community, up in Montgomery County, to stand on the CDC’s desk and get the real data on vaccines. Because there is some concern that the rise in autism is the result of the preservatives that are in our vaccines.” Green continued, “[I]it appears some of that data has been, honestly, maybe fraudulently managed.”
Green’s comments panicked Tennessee’s Department of Health, which quickly sought to contain the potential damage, and drew an immediate rebuke even from his fellow Republicans. The incoming congressman quickly made a token attempt to backtrack, saying in an interview he “would encourage families to get vaccinated at this time.” Still, he persisted, saying, “There appears to be some evidence that as vaccine numbers increase, rates of autism increase.”
None of this, of course, gave pause to the radical anti-tax Club for Growth, which backed Green early in his House campaign and quickly called for him to run for Senate days later when Alexander announced his retirement.
Green later said in a May newsletter that his comments came after he heard about an investigation from an alleged whistleblower at the CDC, saying, “I promised to investigate the issue of vaccines and autism further.” Months after he publicly tried to spread conspiracy theories, Green wrote, “After discussions regarding the data and an update on the most recent evidence around vaccine safety, it is clear that there is no link with the sequencing or scheduling of the MMR vaccine and autism.”