Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., speaks to reporters on Oct. 24, 2023. Gallagher introduced his retirement Saturday.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., speaks to reporters on Oct. 24, 2023. Gallagher introduced his retirement Saturday.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

MADISON, Wis. — U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a key Republican congressman who has spearheaded House pushback in opposition to the Chinese authorities, introduced Saturday that he will not run for a fifth time period. The announcement comes simply days after he angered his fellow Republicans by refusing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The GOP has been seeking to oust Mayorkas as a solution to punish the Biden administration over its dealing with of the U.S.-Mexico border. A House impeachment vote Tuesday fell only one vote quick. Gallagher was one in all three Republicans who opposed impeachment. His fellow Republicans surrounded him on the House ground in an try to vary his thoughts, however he refused to vary his vote.

Record numbers of individuals have been arriving on the southern border as they flee international locations across the globe. Many declare asylum and find yourself in U.S. cities which can be ill-prepared to supply for them whereas they await courtroom proceedings. The situation is potent line of assault for Donald Trump as he works towards defeating President Biden in November’s elections.

Gallagher wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed revealed after the vote that impeachment would not cease migrants from crossing the border and would set a precedent that could possibly be used in opposition to future Republican administrations. But the impeachment vote’s failure was a significant setback for the GOP. Wisconsin Republicans started mulling this week whether or not Gallagher ought to face a major challenger.

Gallagher didn’t point out the impeachment vote in a press release asserting his retirement, saying solely that he does not need to develop previous in Washington.

“The Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives,” Gallagher mentioned. “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.”

He advised the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the backlash over the impeachment vote didn’t play a job in his resolution.

“I feel, honestly, like people get it, and they can accept the fact that they don’t have to agree with you 100%,” he advised the newspaper, including later within the interview: “The news cycle is so short that I just don’t think that stuff lasts.”

Voicemails The Associated Press left at his places of work in Washington and Wisconsin on Saturday weren’t instantly returned.

Gallagher, a former Marine who grew up in Green Bay, has represented northeastern Wisconsin in Congress since 2017. He spent final 12 months main a new House committee devoted to countering China. During the committee’s first listening to, he framed the competitors between the U.S. and China as “an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century.”

Tensions between the 2 international locations have been excessive for years, with either side enacting tariffs on imports throughout Trump’s time period as president. China’s opaque response to COVID-19, aggression towards Taiwan and the invention of a doable spy balloon floating throughout the U.S. final 12 months have solely intensified lawmakers’ intent to do extra to dam the Chinese authorities.

Chinese officers have lashed out on the committee, accusing its members of bias and sustaining a Cold War mentality.

Gallagher was one of many highest-profile Republicans contemplating a run for U.S. Senate this 12 months in opposition to incumbent Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin. But he deserted the concept in June. He mentioned then that he wished to concentrate on countering China via the committee and that he deliberate to run for a fifth time period within the House.