Green Bay Congressman Mike Gallagher Won’t Seek Reelection
Decision comes just after his vote against impeaching Homeland secretary caused a furor.
Mike Gallagher. Photo is in the Public Domain.
After four terms in Congress, Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, announced Saturday that he will not seek reelection.
The announcement comes less than a week after Gallagher was one of only four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The vote failed 214-216.
Gallagher has faced backlash for his vote from other House Republicans, and local Republican Party chapters in his district. Some prominent figures on the right even called for Gallagher to face a primary challenge.
The Green Bay congressman’s statement announcing he would not seek reelection did not reference the impeachment vote. In the statement, Gallagher, 39, said electoral politics is not meant to be a career, and that “Congress is no place to grow old.”
“With a heavy heart, I have decided not to run for reelection,” he said. “Thank you to the good people of Northeast Wisconsin for the honor of a lifetime.”
Gallagher has served on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chaired the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chaired the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Last year, several Republicans had been hoping to recruit Gallagher to challenge Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for reelection this November. In June, Gallagher announced he would not run for Senate and planned to remain in the House.
Green Bay Congressman Mike Gallagher will not seek reelection was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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This is the cult of Republicans.
Mike Gallagher is the pick of the litter of Wisconsin Republican Congressman. The rest is litter. He is the only one who has shown enough backbone to go against the MAGNA Republican caucus. He is one of the few adults in the room at the time of the Republican clown show. He does have defense expertise and a position of China which are policy assets . It seems like more Republicans who challenge MAGNA are deciding the fight is not worth it. Independent and moderate Republicans need to see that the party is on the fast track to authoritarianism and Trump’s bluster is not just talk.
If GOP wants to keep threatening its members for not falling in line for supporting their Fascism… good.
Crumble that party apart. Have fun with those primaries.
I am sorry to hear that the congressman has decided to retire.
I have been aware of his career only slightly but have been impressed even when I disagreed. He always had reasons for his stands that usually made some sense. Plus, I am quite sure he and his family were threatened.
As a decent person, he does not belong in this version of the republican fascist party.
Mr. Gallagher’s decision removes the only republican member of our states delegation who is deserving of respect. Like Kaygeeret and Mingus I am saddened by this news and hold hope that whoever succeeds him is not a MAGA yahoo.