Rep. Gallagher Says He Is Not Seeking Reelection

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) is joining the growing number of House Republicans who have resigned or signified a plan to not seek reelection. In an announcement on Saturday, the leader of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party revealed he would be leaving Capitol Hill after he uses up his term.

#BREAKING: Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher will not seek reelection https://t.co/Bfk9DGKkbv

— The Hill (@thehill) February 10, 2024

Gallagher’s plan will take him away from public office, as he intends to take on a career in the private sector – specifically, defense and foreign policy.

In his announcement, Gallagher stated, “Eight years ago, when I first ran for Congress, I promised to treat my time in office as a high-intensity deployment. Through my bipartisan work on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, we’ve accomplished more on this deployment than I could have ever imagined.”

Explaining that his exit aligns with his stance on term limits in Congress and the belief that politics is not meant to be a career, he added, “But the Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives. Electoral politics was never supposed to be a career and, trust me, Congress is no place to grow old. And so, with a heavy heart, I have decided not to run for re-election.”

“And though my title may change, my mission will always remain the same: deter America’s enemies and defend the Constitution,” he said in conclusion.

Gallagher’s decision comes after he refused to join most House Republicans in voting to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. During a House impeachment on Tuesday, he joined three other Republicans to break ranks and vote “no” to the effort regardless of fellow Republicans’ efforts to get him to change his mind.

While his vote earned him backlash from fellow Republicans, the lawmaker said that that has nothing to do with his decision to not seek reelection. During an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he explained, “I feel, honestly, like people get it, and they can accept the fact that they don’t have to agree with you 100%. The news cycle is so short that I just don’t think that stuff lasts.”