former Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo's "law and order" candidacy. In the 1972 congressional redistricting, Green's opponents tried to gerrymander him out of his seat, placing him in the same district as Congressman James Byrne, in office since 1952. The newly merged district had voted heavily for Rizzo in the mayoral election and had been represented mainly by Byrne, for whom Rizzo campaigned actively. The grassroots organization Green put together for his mayoral campaign, however, enabled him to defeat Byrne decisively. He was then easily re-elected in the overwhelmingly Democratic year of 1974. Senate campaign In 1976, U.S. Senator Hugh Scott, the Senate Republican leader, announced his retirement after being tarred in a campaign finance scandal and facing pressure from fellow Republicans Arlen Specter and John Heinz, who each coveted his seat. Green did not seek re-election to the House, and instead sought Scott's Senate seat. Backed by Governor Milton Shapp, Green won the Democratic nomination for the seat, defeating State Senator Jeanette Reibman of Northampton County. Green's fundraising skills, however, proved to be no match for the millions available to Heinz from his personal fortune after he defeated Arlen Specter in the Republican Senate primary. Heinz blasted Green for voting against defense budgets Green considered too expensive, implying that Green was weak on U.S. defense. Political cartoons of the time show Heinz pouring money from a giant ketchup bottle over Green's head. Even so, and with Carter at the top of the Democratic ticket, Heinz barely reversed the Democratic tide and defeated Green, 52–48 percent. After losing to Heinz, Green was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, and he joined the now-defunct Philadelphia law firm Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, known for its lobbying and government relations practice. He moved out of his district to the Germantown section of Philadelphia and into the home of his mother-in-law, Margaret Sharpless Kirk, with his wife and children. They later moved to Chestnut Hill. As mayor He declined to run in the 1978 gubernatorial election but won the Democratic nomination for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1979, defeating runner-up Charles Bowser, former deputy mayor. Other candidates for the nomination, former City Controller William Klenk and former Commerce Director Al Gaudiosi, withdrew near the end of the primary. In the general election, Green defeated Republican David Marston, a former United States Attorney, and former City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, a future U.S. Congressman and the Consumer Party