Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) announced on Saturday that he will not seek re-election to Congress in 2024.
"Eight years ago, when I first ran for Congress, I promised to treat my time in office as a high-intensity deployment. Through my bipartisan work on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, we've accomplished more on this deployment than I could have ever imagined," Gallagher said in a statement.
Gallagher was one of just three Republicans who voted against the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this week.
His vote joined all House Democrats who helped to stop the ousting of Mayorkas. The Wisconsin Republican told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he chose not to vote to impeach Mayorkas because he "just saw this issue differently," adding that he "felt it was a matter of principle."
"But the Framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives," Gallagher continued. "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 said he believes the government is better when people serve for a certain amount of time and know when it's time to retire. He also stated that he felt he had accomplished so much during his time in Congress and believed that this chapter of his life needed to end.
"Even though my title may change, my job may change, my mission is always going to remain the same," he said. "My mission is to prevent World War III. I've dedicated myself to restoring conventional deterrence in order to prevent a war with China, and so whatever I do next will be an extension of that mission."
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