Supporters of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement cheered Republican Representative Mike Gallagher’s announcement on Saturday that he won’t seek reelection this year after he voted against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“The Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives. 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,” Gallagher wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.
Gallagher, who represents Wisconsin’s 8th District and is the chair of the House select committee on China, joins a growing list of House members, specifically Republicans, who announced they will not run for reelection this election cycle. Earlier this week, Washington state GOP Representative Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also announced that she wouldn’t seek reelection this fall.
On Tuesday, Gallagher was one of four House Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas who Republicans have accused of violating his oath of office regarding the U.S.-Mexico border as an influx of illegal migrants cross into the U.S. The impeachment charges failed to pass on a 214-216 vote. All 212 Democrats, meanwhile, voted against it.
Since Gallagher announced his plans, MAGA supporters have taken to X to celebrate the decision as they have been openly critical over the congressman’s vote against Mayorkas’ impeachment.