Mike Gallagher – former Marine intelligence officer, fresh face of 2016, young idealist with enough honors to fill a trophy case – is quitting his congressional seat April 19.
The high school valedictorian, Princeton undergrad, and Georgetown PhD was elected to the House of Representatives before his thirty-third birthday. His intellect and eloquence made him a leader in the Republican caucus, someone capable of wielding not just votes but ideas to influence policy.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy acknowledged Gallagher’s status among his colleagues in January 2023 when McCarthy picked him to chair the newly formed House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Gallagher was a fervent advocate for strengthening our China policy, and his ideas and passion drove the agenda of the 24-member committee.
Back home in Wisconsin’s eighth congressional district, voters resoundingly endorsed Gallagher. He garnered 63 percent of the vote in 2016, 64 percent in 2018 and 2020, and a whopping 72 percent in 2022.
We’ll never know how far he might have gone; how bright his star might have shone.
It’s unclear why Gallagher, a generational talent, is abandoning his seat halfway through his term. To spend more time with his family? Or, perhaps more cynically, to work for defense tech giant Palantir? Gallagher hasn’t said, but whatever his answer, he’s lowered the bar – as a veteran and a congressman.
Gallagher promised to work for Green Bay, Oshkosh, and the country, and the voters believed him. While the media fixates on whether Gallagher “betrayed the party,” the truth is he betrayed the American people. Gallagher happily displayed his service medals on campaign commercials, and proudly wore his USMC polo shirt while meeting the voters. I once attended a meeting where Gallagher sipped hot tea from a green canteen cup – odd but touching, like watching a young lieutenant showing the troops he’s all in.
Ultimately, though, Gallagher was like many others on the political stage; more actor than genuine article. Just another young, ambitious person playing the role of veteran, for as long as it served his self-interest.
I wish him well, but wonder if the decision, for him, won't age well.
Beneath the T-shirts and slogans, the medals and canteen cups, are the principles Gallagher learned in Quantico, and followed while serving in Iraq. The warrior ethos is ingrained in everyone who wears the uniform. Put the mission first. Never quit. And most importantly, never leave a Marine behind.
You fooled us, Mike, but did you fool yourself?
Citizen Soldier believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
