The congressman from the 9th District is Al Green, a Democrat first elected in 2004 who champions the concerns of the homeless and poor. Green grew up in New Orleans. He attended college at Florida A&M University and graduated from Texas Southern University’s law school, where he later taught. From 1986 to 1995, he was president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP. In 1977, he was elected justice of the peace and served 26 years. After new district boundaries were created in 2003, Green saw an opening to run for Congress. The representative from the old district that covered much of this area was Chris Bell, a white Democrat first elected in 2002. That year, he ran with liberal support and beat a more conservative black candidate. The primary against Green was a different matter. Green said that he wanted to fight racial profiling and discrimination in law enforcement, and used subtle racial references on the campaign trail, including his promise to bring “a mountain of soul” to the new district. He amassed an impressive roster of endorsements from prominent local and national black leaders. Bell responded by asking voters “not to focus on the color of my skin, but on the size of my heart.” Bell was endorsed by the AFL-CIO, Texas teachers, abortion rights groups and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. But he struggled as a white candidate running in a district where minorities constituted two-thirds of the electorate. Read More

The congressman from the 9th District is Al Green, a Democrat first elected in 2004 who champions the concerns of the homeless and poor. Green grew up in New Orleans. He attended college at Florida A&M University and graduated from Texas Southern University’s law school, where he later taught. From 1986 to 1995, he was president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP. In 1977, he was elected justice of the peace and served 26 years. After new district boundaries were created in 2003, Green saw an opening to run for Congress. The representative from the old district that covered much of this area was Chris Bell, a white Democrat first elected in 2002. That year, he ran with liberal support and beat a more conservative black candidate. The primary against Green was a different matter. Green said that he wanted to fight racial profiling and discrimination in law enforcement, and used subtle racial references on the campaign trail, including his promise to bring “a mountain of soul” to the new district. He amassed an impressive roster of endorsements from prominent local and national black leaders. Bell responded by asking voters “not to focus on the color of my skin, but on the size of my heart.” Bell was endorsed by the AFL-CIO, Texas teachers, abortion rights groups and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. But he struggled as a white candidate running in a district where minorities constituted two-thirds of the electorate.

As the primary neared, the racially charged atmosphere intensified. When state Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting endorsed Bell, Green said that it reminded him of “the double standards when African-Americans had to ride on the back of the bus and drink from colored-only water fountains.” The Congressional Black Caucus was drawn into the campaign after California Rep. Maxine Waters suggested many CBC members backed Green while Bell claimed that caucus Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., had promised to support him. Although the caucus itself never made a formal endorsement, its role in the primary angered other Democratic members. In the end, it may not have mattered. Green won the primary in a landslide, 66%-31%. Green faced no real opposition in the general election.

In the House, Green began with a relatively moderate voting record, but has become a loyal Democrat in recent years. On the Financial Services Committee, he has worked to eliminate housing practices that discriminated against minorities. In 2008, he teamed with then-Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., on a plan to reduce the number of mortgage holders with unstable sub-prime loans, and he passed a bill in the House to expand housing assistance for low-income veterans. He defended that program from Republican budget-cutters in March 2011. He told The Houston Chronicle in 2010, “My mission in life seems to remain constant—doing what I can to be of service to the least, the last and the lost.”

Like other Texas lawmakers, he has been protective of the oil and gas industry, joining a group of Democrats in 2009 warning that President Barack Obama’s proposal to raise taxes and impose new fees on the oil and gas industry could hamper domestic production. Green broke with most House Democrats by voting in 2006 to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, probably the smart vote in a Houston-based district that relies on oil profits. He left the Homeland Security Committee after the GOP takeover in 2011, but attended a controversial panel hearing on Muslim extremism in March to passionately tell panel members that other groups using religion as the basis for their views, such as the Ku Klux Klan, also should be examined.

Green was re-elected twice without Republican opposition before easily beating GOP business analyst Steve Mueller 76%-23% in 2010.