WASHINGTON — Up until last week, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, was seen as part of the GOP's future. Today, he’s being viewed as part of its past.
“His departure is a further weakening of what we might call the old Republican establishment party that's conservative in its policies, but focused on policy making, as opposed to rhetorical assaults on the opposition,” said Charles Franklin, a professor of law and public policy at Marquette Law School.
Rep. Gallagher is a Marine veteran who chairs the special House Committee investigating China. Just 39 years old, he was considered a rising GOP star by many.
But last week, Rep. Gallagher was one of only three Republicans to initially vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. A fourth congressman, Utah Rep. Blake Moore, vice chair of the House Republican Conference, changed his vote from a "yes" to a "no" so the measure could be considered again at a later date.
Rep. Gallagher said policy disputes are not impeachable offenses.
The next day, a Donald Trump ally said he might challenge Rep. Gallagher in a primary. And on Saturday, Gallagher announced he would not seek re-election.
“The show horses have been on the rise for a long time, and the work horses have been on the decline,” said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
Political analysts said Rep. Gallagher’s decision reflects a shift in the GOP from the party of George H.W. and George W. Bush, to the party of former president Donald Trump.
“I think it's an open question what role Republicans like [Rep. Gallagher] with focus on policy can have in the new Republican Party, especially when they're subjected to virulent criticism from within their party when they deviate from the party consensus, especially on MAGA-related affairs. So this is a transition in the party that Gallagher's sort of a symbol of,” Franklin said.
Rep. Gallagher joins more than a dozen other Republicans, some of them from the party’s Old Guard, who have decided not to run again this year.
“It's possible that he and other Republicans, or many other Republicans, just don't really want to be part of the House anymore, that even in the majority, it's been kind of chaotic,” Kondik said.
In announcing his decision, Gallagher said in a statement, “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.”
Former state legislator Roger Roth quickly announced his candidacy for Gallagher’s northeast Wisconsin seat, writing that he supports Trump and is “ready to fight back against President Joe Biden's dangerous open border, disastrous economy, and weak foreign policy that has put Americans at risk, both at home and abroad.”
State Sen. André Jacque, R-DePere, and Trump ally Alex Bruesewitz are also mulling runs.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said it looks forward to competing in the race, but Republicans are expected to retain the seat.