‘Anger’: Locals React to Mike Gallagher’s Early Retirement

Conservatives and Republicans in Wisconsin’s District 8 have a mix of feelings after Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) announced he would retire on April 19, during a narrow window that will prevent a special election to fill the seat before November.

The words “bewilderment,” “confusion,” and “frustration” came up in interviews with The Epoch Times. The throughline was “anger.”

“It’s going over like a rock thrown through a window,” said Ken Sikora, chair of the Oconto County Republican Party. “I guess anger would be the right word.”

“Anger is definitely a word I’ve heard,” said former Wisconsin State Sen. Roger Roth, one of the Republicans hoping to replace Mr. Gallagher.

The chair of the Brown County GOP, Doug Reich, described the mood on the ground as “100 percent anger.”

“There’s a lot of folks upset,” said Wisconsin State Sen. André Jacque, also in contention for Mr. Gallagher’s seat.

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“The big question—why? No one, including Mike Gallagher, has told us why,” said Ronald Zahn, a conservative activist from Wrightstown, Wisconsin.

“We’re puzzled, and because there’s no answer, there’s anger,” he added.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and other Republican insiders have suggested a special election would afford too much leeway in the state to Democrats, particularly Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.

A memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee’s counsel suggests the timing would prevent the governor from setting a special election date that comes after Nov. 5, “leaving a Republican seat open in the days immediately following what promises to be a contentious election.”

“A special election will not result in the vacancy being filled before November. It does, however, give Wisconsin’s Democratic governor—who is not looking to do Republicans any favors—a chance to monkey around with the process,” a source close to Mr. Gallagher told The Epoch Times.

Mr. Sikora, for his part, dismissed the notion that a special election would create a vulnerability in the strongly Republican 8th District.

“We’re not gonna lose,” he said.

“I find it very problematic and unethical that just days after Gallagher led the effort inside of Congress to ban TikTok he got hired by a multi-billion-dollar company that advocated for the ban of TikTok,” Alex Bruesewitz, a conservative influencer with ties to the Eighth District, told The Epoch Times.

“The frustration is that we elect these people, they get paid a lot of money, and they get put in a position to meet other people. And then they take that and use it to enrich their own lives while the rest of us have no choice but to go out and try to find somebody else,” Mr. Sikora said.

“That does not have a good appearance, and I think it furthers people’s cynicism and, I guess, anger towards the system in Washington, D.C.,” Mr. Reich said of the Palantir news.

“Is he trading in his experience in Congress for a cushy, big salary? We don’t know enough,” said Mr. Zahn, adding it was possible that Mr. Gallagher’s “extensive knowledge and experience” made him a good candidate regardless of his actions in relation to TikTok.

Mr. Jacque, one of the candidates for Mr. Gallagher’s seat, questioned the lawmaker’s decision not to resign quickly.

“I think that if you have the appearance of a conflict of interest, whether or not it actually exists, that appearance, essentially becomes the reality in the public if it can’t be dispelled,” he said.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is likely to spend $100 million on Congress this election cycle, was also a top contributor to the lawmaker—and Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, recently flew to Israel to show solidarity with the nation in its battle with Hamas. The firm has emerged as a major supplier of defense products to the country.

Palantir, a company initially funded in part by the Central Intelligence Agency’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Epoch Times. The source close to Mr. Gallagher did not comment on Palantir either.

Mr. Gallagher’s silence is especially concerning to some of his northeastern Wisconsin constituents as the days tick down to his departure.

On April 5, Mr. Sikora told The Epoch Times he and his family were up to day three with no power, after a powerful storm swept through much of the Eighth District amid President Donald J. Trump’s April 2 visit to Green Bay. According to Mr. Sikora, the outgoing representative has been missing in action.

“Mr. Sikora has not contacted the congressman’s office about this issue. As is always the case, if any individual is experiencing issues and needs help from a federal agency, our team stands ready to assist them,” the source close to Mr. Gallagher told The Epoch Times.

Departure

The lawmaker announced his imminent departure in a terse statement on March 22.

Some local Republicans have speculated on what could have caused his departure.

Mr. Sikora, a restauranteur, linked Mr. Gallagher’s departure to his controversial February votes against impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

But grassroots conservatives in the area were apparently unpersuaded.

Mr. Sikora, the Oconto County GOP chair, said that he, Waupaca County GOP Chair Joel Bartel, and Mr. Reich of the Brown County GOP rebuffed Mr. Gallagher’s attempts to meet with them in Door County after he voted against impeaching Mr. Mayorkas.

“This was a moment to unite the district between party leaders and our congressman. We [cannot] put into words how disappointing this situation has been,” Mr. Sikora and Mr. Bartel said in a joint letter to Mr. Gallagher that was shared with The Epoch Times.

Mr. Reich also bowed out of attending the meeting, according to a letter shared with The Epoch Times and confirmed by Mr. Reich.

“His vote has now divided our party[,] and now there are threats of a Trump ally, Alex Bruesewitz, possibly entering the race to primary him. I’m hearing that people up north are putting their Gallagher signs in the ground upside down. This is not good!” Mr. Reich wrote at the time.

Mr. Bruesewitz highlighted a link between Mr. Gallagher’s reported future employer and Mr. Mayorkas’s agency.

“Palantir also has a contract with Mayorkas’ DHS,” he said.

“The fact that the president urged a peaceful march, however irresponsible in context, will make an eleventh-hour impeachment for ‘Incitement to Insurrection’ look partisan and pointless,” he wrote in January 2021.

“Obviously, he was voting against his own president at the time,” Mr. Sikora said.

‘A Visceral Dislike for Trumpism’

The lawmaker disclosed his resignation plans just ten days after a similar announcement from now-former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), one of the other Republicans who voted against impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, and a consistent critic of President Trump.

“I think it’s the next three people that leave that they’re going to be worried about,” Mr. Buck told Axios on March 12.

“I think Mike Gallagher can’t stand Trump and this is his way of flipping him off,” Mr. Sikora said.

Mr. Zahn said he was unaware of any stated support for President Trump by Mr. Gallagher, “even though Trump’s policies and Mike Gallagher’s policies align on almost every issue.”

“He has a visceral dislike for Trumpism,” he said.

Mr. Roth, one of the candidates for Mr. Gallagher’s seat, didn’t dismiss the notion that the early departure was intended as a stick in the eye to the current GOP, now more firmly under President Trump’s control than ever.

“That could very well be,” he said, adding that he thought the lawmaker should have stayed through November.

“Politics certainly can get personal,” Mr. Jacque said when asked about the possibility that Mr. Gallagher’s early departure was meant as a negative signal to President Trump and today’s GOP.

If Mr. Gallagher is dramatically rejecting “Trumpism” through his early retirement, one avatar of the movement has tried to respond in kind.

“You don’t know who Trump is going to mention. It is not always the best conservative candidate,” Mr. Zahn said, adding that he “enthusiastically will support Trump” despite preferring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy when both were primary candidates.

Mr. Bruesewitz, who has floated the idea of running for Mr. Gallagher’s seat, will make a big announcement in Green Bay on April 8.

“Wisconsin 8 will elect a political outsider who fully embraces the MAGA movement in November,” the influencer predicted to The Epoch Times.

“I think he’s gonna run, but [I’m] not 100 percent sure,” Mr. Sikora said of Mr. Bruesewitz. He suggested that President Trump’s endorsement, should it come, would be “the only one that really matters” in the end.