GOP Representative Mike Gallagher Announces Early Resignation

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) speaks during a hearing of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., January 30, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Representative Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) said Friday he will resign from Congress next month, narrowing Republicans’ already-slim majority in the House.

Gallagher, who previously announced he would not run for reelection, announced he will leave his post early, on April 19.

The move would leave Republicans with a 217-213 majority in the House, as Representative Ken Buck (R., Colo.) is resigning as well.

The decision was seemingly timed to avoid a special election to fill the seat, as Wisconsin state law requires vacancies created after the second Tuesday in April to be filled in the general election. Cook Political Report rates the seat, which will remain empty until January, “solid Republican.”

“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 said in a statement.

“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,” said Gallagher, an Iraq war veteran. “It has truly been an honor to serve in the House of Representatives.”

Gallagher’s departure comes after he played a key role in passing a bill earlier this month to require TikTok’s Chinese parent company, Byte Dance, to sell the app in order to avoid a U.S. ban.

He emerged as one of just three Republicans who voted against the House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month of his handling of the border crisis.

After announcing his retirement from Congress last month, the four-term congressman shared his frustrations with the state of the legislative body.

“Since I ran, I always said that Congress shouldn’t be a career,” Gallagher told Fox News. “I think that the fact that we have so many lifers and careerists in this institution is why it’s so dysfunctional, and that the framers, when they created the Constitution and this country, had in mind that you would embark on a season of service and then return to private life.”