Green Bay Congressman Mike Gallagher will not seek reelection

After four terms in Congress, Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, announced Saturday that he will not seek reelection.

The announcement comes less than a week after Gallagher was one of only four Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The vote failed 214-216.

Gallagher has faced backlash for his vote from other House Republicans, and local Republican Party chapters in his district. Some prominent figures on the right even called for Gallagher to face a primary challenge.

The Green Bay congressman’s statement announcing he would not seek reelection did not reference the impeachment vote. In the statement, Gallagher, 39, said electoral politics is not meant to be a career, and that “Congress is no place to grow old.”

“With a heavy heart, I have decided not to run for reelection,” he said. “Thank you to the good people of Northeast Wisconsin for the honor of a lifetime.”

Gallagher told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the impeachment vote and recent tumult in Congress did not factor into his decision. Gallagher was not available for an interview on Monday, but told the Wall Street Journal this weekend that he hoped to spend more time with his family after leaving Congress, as a married father of two.

Gallagher, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, has served on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chaired the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chaired the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Last year, several Republicans had been hoping to recruit Gallagher to challenge Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for reelection this November. In June, Gallagher announced he would not run for Senate and planned to remain in the House.