This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and the Nashville Scene. The Nashville Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news. Visit nashvillebanner.com for more information.
Last week, Camilla Green, the wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green, texted a group of Congress members to warn them against the evils of politics, accusing Green of being corrupted by D.C. and having an affair with a woman 27 years younger than him.
The scandal, which comes less than a month after Green filed for divorce, raises questions about the Tennessee representative's brand as a pro-family conservative, including from his own daughter.
Camilla’s emotionally charged text describes the other woman as a “predator” and misidentifies her as an employee at a political news outlet. An unnamed woman who works in politics told Politico she had an affair with the congressman, and Camilla admitted to flubbing the woman’s employer in the text.
When the Nashville Banner tried to reach Camilla, the couple’s adult daughter confirmed her mother’s mistake.
“I think she’s very overwhelmed right now because she made a mistake about the job of this particular woman,” Catherine Green said late Friday. “She’s had lawsuits threatened against her.”
The rest of the text — in which Camilla warns of “readily available ‘predators’” like the 32-year-old woman in question, and describes members of Congress “having affairs and getting divorces, drinking, parties, all while hosting a weekly Bible study in the basement of our home” — still feels true to the conservative family.
Like her mother, Catherine says she attributes the affair, divorce filing and shift in Green’s behavior to his time in D.C., calling politics a negative influence on her father and family.
According to Catherine, the affair began last fall, and the family became aware around January when her brother found a letter from the woman on Rep. Green’s desk. Green initially denied the affair until the family found “additional evidence” at their Montgomery County home.
“Over the last year-and-a-half, two years, we’ve really noticed a difference in him," says Catherine. "So who knows if that’s just the toxic environment that is D.C., but something has changed. We’ve all had to basically grieve the loss of the person that we thought was our father.”
Catherine described her father as increasingly “self-centered” and aloof, noting a lack of communication and disinterest in family activities over Christmas.
Incumbent Republican changes mind after call from Trump
In February, Green announced that he would retire from Congress after three terms before reversing course and announcing his current campaign just two weeks later. Catherine says his initial hesitance to run was about the family’s equestrian farm, which she says has been struggling financially.
Ultimately, former President Donald Trump — a close ally who nominated the retired Army surgeon to be Army secretary in 2017 — called and convinced him to seek reelection.
Trump himself has a long list of sordid relationships with women, including extramarital affairs. Asked if she thinks Trump was part of what the family believes is corrupting her father in politics, Catherine says: “Yes and no.”
“Trump doesn’t lie about who he is, you know, he’s upfront with you," she says. "You know he’s an ass, but he’s just good at what he does. He’s a good businessman."
She says her dad, however, is not living up to the standard he campaigns on.
“My dad sells himself in politics as being a Christian, conservative family man,” she says, laughing. “His actions in the last, whatever, year have not been that.”
Spokespeople for Green’s campaign and congressional office did not respond to requests for comment on Catherine’s remarks. Green asked for privacy in a statement shared Friday after the Nashville Banner reported on the affair.
John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, says the issue could complicate Green’s reelection campaign, though Tennessee's 7th Congressional District is still most likely to go Republican.
“I think it remains a district that he’s likely to win,” Geer says of the district, which includes Clarksville, parts of Williamson County and West Nashville. "I don’t think there’s any doubt about that."
Green’s affair is unlikely to flip voters in support of Democratic opponent Megan Barry — who resigned as mayor of Nashville after her own scandal in 2018 — but could have a chilling effect on voter turnout, according to Geer.
Nashville’s former mayor faces an uphill campaign against incumbent Mark Green in Tennessee's 7th
The new district is also somewhat untested since redistricting, and could be closer than usual due to momentum among Democrats. Green defeated Odessa Kelly 60 percent to 38.1 percent in 2022.
“I mean, Megan Barry’s a high-quality candidate, and so to some degree, we don’t know exactly how strongly Republican the district is,” Geer says, suggesting Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign could drive stronger turnout among women and people of color more likely to vote for Barry.
Green’s race will ultimately serve as a morality test for the modern Republican Party, which permits Trump’s behavior but may be less mobilized around a local candidate with similar baggage.
“We have become a little desensitized to it because of Trump and the fact that whatever kind of moral issues don’t seem to matter to him,” Geer says. “But it could be people on the Republican side don’t work as hard for Green.”
