WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Gallagher's, R-Green Bay, decision to retire from Congress sent shockwaves through Washington and Wisconsin. He was a rising star in Republican politics. Many in the party hoped he would run for Senate this year. But the popular, four-term Republican from Green Bay tells Spectrum News he thought about this for a long time.
“We've been talking about it for a year. I don't know the precise moment, but it's been a long time coming,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher, who’s 39, is a father of two. He said he is not sure what he will do for a living, but that he and his wife want to grow their family.
“This lifestyle is not suited for that, and that's the main thing,” he said. “And I just, always when I ran, I knew this wasn't going to be a career for me. I don't think it should be a career, I think you should serve for a short period of time and then go home.”
Gallagher is a Marine veteran who chairs the high-profile special House Committee investigating China. He’s been an outspoken voice against the Chinese Communist Party and worked with both Democrats and Republicans on perhaps his most high profile legislation: a bill to separate TikTok from its Chinese-owned parent company. It passed the House on Wednesday with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle.
“To be able to champion a bipartisan major piece of legislation and get it passed the House and maybe get it passed the Senate and signed into law would be a significant achievement, particularly given the context of how extremely unproductive and extremely dysfunctional the current Congress has been,” said Anthony Chergosky, an assistant professor of political science at UW-La Crosse.
Gallagher said there are a few things he has not achieved in Washington that he'd hoped to, such as restricting foreign investments in the U.S., passing term limits, and outlawing lobbying by former members of Congress.
“That kind of lost momentum, for a variety of reasons, because the swamp fought back,” he said. “So that's something we're eventually going to have to do. Not sure it's gonna get done before I leave, but I think the American people support it.”
Gallagher has won elections by wide margins and likely would have been a shoo-in again this November. He’s known as a workhorse who is well-liked in his district and a successful fundraiser. As for the remainder of his time in Washington, he said he’ll be focusing on the TikTok bill.
“There's about 10 to 20 priority pieces of legislation that come from our policy reports and the analysis we've done over the last year that we're trying to turn into law,” Gallagher said. “And there's a lot of things that just, quite frankly, can't pass in this Congress that are a blueprint for action for future Congresses.”
Gallagher said he’s not getting involved in the race to replace him. Two Republicans have announced their candidacy, and a third is considering a run. A Democrat has not won the Northeast Wisconsin seat since 2008.