By: Roy Douglas Malonson
Long-serving African American Democratic lawmakers — figures such as US Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) — are under unique pressure from both within and outside their party.
Waters, 87, in her 18th House term, is facing challenger Myla Rahman from her party in California’s 43rd District primary. “People are sick and tired of the same old thing,” Rahman, 53, told the California Post in a Feb. 10 article.
In South Carolina, Jim Clyburn, 85, is serving his 17th term. Though he faces no major Democratic challenger, Republicans publicly discussed redrawing the 6th District to make it more conservative. Fortunately, those proposals were not enacted, and no new congressional map was passed in 2025 ahead of the 2026 election.
Closer to home, Green, who has represented Texas’ 9th Congressional District for 21 years, is confronting both challenges — redistricting and intra-party competition. His 9th District was dramatically redrawn in 2025, and most of it, including his own home, now falls within the 18th District.
The 11-term congressman is running in the Democratic primary for the reshaped 18th District against fellow Black Democrats Christian Menefee, 37, and Gretchen Brown, 55. The winner will face the Republican nominee in November.
“Now they are trying to force us to fight each other,” Green said at his annual legislative breakfast meeting earlier this month. “They are trying to break the bond of unity that we have…We must stand together. We’ve got to stand up against this racism coming from the highest office in the land.”
In Washington, seniority has long been equated with influence, effectiveness and earned authority. Green, however, faces criticism focused not on his job performance — but on his age. Editorial commentary and political murmurs suggest it is “time for change.” Yet similar scrutiny has been less pronounced for older white incumbents, including John Cornyn.
“The Houston Chronicle is saying now that somehow I have to guarantee people I’m going to live to run for office,” Green said. “This is ridiculous… Really who can guarantee that they’re going to live to see tomorrow? No one knows for whom the bell will toll next. God has a time for all of us. So, they concluded that somehow, I am unfit, because I can’t guarantee that I can live long enough to satisfy the needs of some people.”
Tied to this debate over age is another familiar critique — the assumption that older lawmakers struggle with emerging technology. Green is also facing a crypto-backed super PAC, Fairshake, in one of the first major negative ad campaigns of the midterm cycle. Funded by the cryptocurrency industry that supported pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 elections, Fairshake said it plans to spend $1.5 million to try to defeat Green in the Democratic primary. Fairshake, created in 2023 to represent the interests of the cryptocurrency industry in Washington, claims Green is hostile to American innovation.
“I’m concerned about the impact of cryptocurrency on the dollar’s status as the world’s premier currency,” Green said at a hearing last year, warning that the growth of crypto could weaken the United States’ ability to enforce financial sanctions on other nations.
Far from a ceremonial figure, Green has been a tireless advocate for housing equity, civil rights, disaster recovery funding, and holding leaders accountable through impeachment. He doesn’t shy away from political risk — famously shouting “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” and shaking his cane at President Trump while others remained silent.
