Gallagher Resigns

U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher. File photo.

Four-term Congressman not waiting until after the November election

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) announced today, March 22, that he would be resigning his Eighth Congressional District seat effective April 19, rather than wait until January 2025 when representatives-elects are sworn in after the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

Gallagher had announced in February that he wouldn’t run for a fifth term. He gave no reason in his statement as to why he was resigning early. His decision, he said, came after conversations with his family.

Gallagher’s decision not to run for a fifth term came less than a week after he was one of only four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Gallagher faced backlash for that vote from other House Republicans, and local Republican Party chapters in his district, including Oconto County GOP chairman Ken Sikora who wrote in a letter to other county chairs in Gallagher’s district to “unite and condemn” Gallagher for what Sikora called Gallagher’s “betrayal.”

During his tenure, Gallagher has spearheaded House pushback against the Chinese Government as Chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Community Party.

“I’ve worked closely with House Republican leadership on this [resignation] timeline and look forward to seeing Speaker Johnson appoint a new chair to carry out the important mission of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party,” Gallagher said. “My office will continue to operate and provide constituent services to the Eighth District for the remainder of the term.”

Gallagher was first elected in 2016 and most recently re-elected with 72% of the vote in 2022. 

“Four terms serving Northeast Wisconsin in Congress has been the honor of a lifetime and strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history of the world,” he said. “I will forever be proud of the work I did on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. It has truly been an honor to serve in the House of Representatives.”