Republican Announces Early Retirement, Narrowing GOP Majority in House

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) delivers remarks to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the White Paper movement in China alongside a group of students and Chinese pro-democracy activists outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Nov. 29, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Republicans are going to see their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives narrow even further, as Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) is departing Congress soon.

Mr. Gallagher, 40, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, became the latest Republican to announce an early retirement, saying on March 22 that he will leave the lower chamber on April 19.

Mr. Gallagher did not cite a reason for the decision, which he said came after conversations with his family. A phone call to his Washington office went straight to voicemail.

Republicans currently have 219 seats in the House, but Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) has said he is stepping down after Friday.

The resignations of Mr. Buck and Mr. Gallagher would leave the GOP with 217 seats.

Democrats currently have 213 seats.

The slim majority looming for Republicans means they can afford a single defection to pass bills without Democrat help.

Because of the timing of the retirement, no special election will be held for Mr. Gallagher’s seat. Wisconsin law requires a resignation to take place before the second Tuesday in April in order for a special election to take place.

“This is calculated. Gallagher could leave now, and allow his safe Republican seat to be filled quickly. Instead, he is deliberately leaving on a timeline that will leave it empty until November, leaving the GOP majority even smaller and making a Democrat House takeover a real possibility,” Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, wrote on X.

Mr. Gallagher said he “worked closely” with House Republican leaders on the timeline for his retirement and that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would appoint a new chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) participates in a discussion at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Va., on March 13, 2024. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Speaker

Mr. Johnson has not yet reacted to the announcement.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told CNN that the upcoming departure highlights a need to unify.

“It is tough with a five-seat majority, it is tough with a two seat, one will be the same. We all have to work together,” Mr. Scalise said. “We have to unite if we are going to get things done, we have proven with bills like our energy bill, our border security bill and some of the other big things we have done we can come together and get things done for hard working families.”

came after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to remove Mr. Johnson as speaker. Ms. Greene is upset about Mr. Johnson’s approval of a $1.2 trillion spending package, calling it “a betrayal of the American people.”

Mr. Gallagher voted for the spending package, and was one of just three Republicans to recently vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, enabling Mr. Mayorkas to remain in his position amid a crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border. U.S. border officials said Friday that agents recorded nearly 190,000 encounters with illegal immigrants in February at the border, a number that does not include illegal immigrants who evade authorities.

Mr. Johnson became speaker in October 2023, after Republicans ousted Mr. McCarthy from the leadership post.

Mr. Gallagher has represented Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District since 2017, after fighting in the Iraq War. He won re-election in 2022 with 72 percent of the vote. Mr. Gallagher had announced previously he would not seek another term.

“The Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives,” he said in February. “Electoral politics was never supposed to be a career and, trust me, Congress is no place to grow old. And so, with a heavy heart, I have decided not to run for re-election. Thank you to the good people of Northeast Wisconsin for the honor of a lifetime.”

Mr. Gallagher also said before that he wanted to spend more time with his family. He has several children.

Mr. Gallagher said Friday that his office would keep providing services to constituents until the remainder of the term, which ends in early 2025.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks during a press conference unveiling the results of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) investigation into the biolab discovered in Reedley, Calif., in Washington on Nov. 15, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Recent Resignations

Other members who have recently retired include Reps. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

The resignations of Mr. Buck and Mr. Gallagher will leave the House with five vacancies.

The special election to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is slated to take place on April 30.

The race to fill the seat Mr. McCarthy held is advancing to a runoff in May between state Assemblyman Vince Fong, a Republican, and either Republican Tulare County Mike Boudreaux or Democrat candidate Marisa Wood.

The race to replace Mr. Johnson is down to Democrat Michael Kripchak and Republican Michael Rulli. The general special election isn’t until June.