Washington — Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who has led House opposition to China, resigned Friday, leaving House Republicans with a razor-thin majority.
On April 19, Gallagher, 40, agreed to quit. Republicans will have a 217-213 House majority, so they cannot afford to lose more than one party-line vote. Republican leadership has struggled with the tiny majority, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson to negotiate with Democrats on most bills.
He represents northern Wisconsin in Congress since 2017. He is a Green Bay native and former Marine. He led a new House China-countering committee last year. In the committee's first hearing, he called the U.S.-China rivalry “an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century.”
Gallagher stated, “I’ve worked closely with House Republican leadership on this 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's special election won't happen either. Wisconsin law requires a general election after his resignation. Republican state senator Andre Jacque of De Pere and former state senator Roger Roth are vying for the vacant 8th Congressional District seat.
Although the district is Republican, the Wisconsin Democratic Party stated it will be “fighting hard” for it and dubbed Gallagher's retirement “a remarkable indictment of a do-nothing GOP majority obsessed with creating chaos.”
Gallagher was a rising GOP star and one of the most prominent Republicans exploring a Senate bid against incumbent Tammy Baldwin. In June, he gave up. His goal was to counter China through the committee, and he planned to run for a fifth term in the House.
Gallagher helped win a House bill this month banning TikTok nationally if its Chinese owner doesn't sell its interest. He and several bipartisans felt that the company's ownership threatened national security. Gallagher clashed with former President Donald Trump and his followers. He outraged Republicans last month by not impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In February, Gallagher and two other Republicans opposed the House's first impeachment attempt to remove Mayorkas to punish the Biden administration for its border policy. Republicans were accused of impeachment abuse.
Still, GOP legislators surrounded Gallagher on the House floor to modify his vote, but he refused. After other lawmakers returned, Republicans impeached Mayorkas. Gallagher resigned from the House days after the first impeachment vote failed.
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