MADISON, Wis. — U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a key Republican congressman who has led the House of Representatives’ opposition to the Chinese government, announced Saturday that he will not run for a fifth term. The announcement comes just days after he angered fellow Republicans by refusing to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Republican Party has looked at impeaching Mayorkas as a way to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. An impeachment vote in the House of Representatives fell just one vote short on Tuesday. Gallagher was one of three Republicans who opposed impeachment. His fellow Republicans surrounded him on the floor of the House of Representatives in an attempt to change his mind, but he refused to change his vote.
Record numbers of people have arrived at the southern border as they flee countries around the world. Many seek asylum and end up in American cities ill-prepared to care for them while they await legal proceedings. The issue is a powerful line of attack for Donald Trump as he looks to defeat President Joe Biden in the November election.
Gallagher wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published after the vote that impeachment would not stop migrants from crossing the border and would set a precedent that could be used against future Republican administrations. But the failure of the impeachment vote was a major setback for the Republican Party. Wisconsin Republicans this week began wondering whether Gallagher should face a primary challenger.
Gallagher made no mention of the impeachment vote in a statement announcing his retirement, saying only that he does not want to grow old in Washington.
“It was the Framers’ intention that citizens would serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives,” Gallagher said. “Electoral politics was never intended to be a career, and believe me, Congress is not a place to grow old. And that is why, with pain in my heart, I have decided not to stand for re-election.”
Voicemails left by the Associated Press at its offices in Washington and Wisconsin on Saturday were not immediately returned.
Gallagher, a former Marine who grew up in Green Bay, has represented northeastern Wisconsin in Congress since 2017. Last year, he led a new House of Representatives committee focused on combating China. At the committee’s first hearing, he described the competition between the US and China as “an existential battle over what life will be like in the 21st century.”
Tensions between the two countries have been high for years, with both sides introducing tariffs during Trump’s term in office. China’s opaque response to COVID-19, aggression toward Taiwan and the discovery of a possible spy balloon hovering over the US last year have only strengthened lawmakers’ intent to do more to block the Chinese government.
Chinese officials have lashed out at the commission, accusing its members of bias and maintaining a Cold War mentality.
Gallagher was considering a run for the U.S. Senate this year against incumbent Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin. But in June he dropped the idea. He then said he wanted to focus on fighting China through the committee.