After vote blocking Mayorkas impeachment, Rep. Mike Gallagher faces GOP backlash at home

WASHINGTON – Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher is facing intense criticism from Republicans in his district and around the state following his vote this week against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — with some on the right flank of his party calling for a primary challenge.

Gallagher joined three other House Republicans and every Democrat Tuesday evening in voting against impeaching Mayorkas for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. He argued that Mayorkas' performance has been a "disgrace" but that Mayorkas' actions have not risen to the level of crimes necessary for impeachment.

He warned that impeaching a cabinet official could set a precedent for future administrations.

That decision drew swift criticism. One county GOP chairman in the Green Bay Republican's 8th Congressional District sent a letter to other county chairs disavowing Gallagher. Conservative talk radio hosts on Wednesday ridiculed his explanation. And some prominent Republicans have suggested Gallagher should face a primary challenge.

"I can no longer tolerate nor support someone who will not follow his constitutional duties and the wishes of his constituents," Oconto County GOP chairman Ken Sikora wrote in a letter to other county chairs in Gallagher's district. "I am calling on all District 8 Chairs to unite and condemn this betrayal."

Doug Reich, chairman of the Republican Party of Brown County, which includes Green Bay, said the party was "deeply concerned" with Gallagher's vote. He acknowledged Gallagher's "apprehension regarding impeachment's misuse as a tool for settling policy disputes" but said the party believes a vote for impeachment "serves as a powerful affirmation of our members’ grave concerns about the federal government’s dereliction of duty."

"We respectfully call on Representative Gallagher to reconsider his stance on this important issue and to continue his vital efforts to secure our nation’s border," Reich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Republican Reps. Tom McClintock of California and Ken Buck of Colorado also voted against impeaching Mayorkas. Utah Rep. Blake Moore, the House GOP's vice chair, changed his vote to no after it was clear the measure was fail, a move made to allow the House to reconsider the resolution at a later date.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said Republicans will try again to impeach Mayorkas once they have the votes to do so.

Asked Wednesday whether he was worried about backlash in his district for his vote, Gallagher told a small group of reporters: "That can’t be the North Star that guides your votes and guides your principles.”

"I don't live online, guys," he replied when asked if he's seen feedback on a Wall Street Journal op-ed explaining his vote. "Get offline. It's not healthy for you. I talk to human beings."

Still, Gallagher has faced vocal pushback. Conservative talk show host Vikki McKenna called out Gallagher multiple times on her Wednesday show and labeled the Republicans who voted against impeachment "a bunch of feckless, spineless RINOS," using the acronym for Republicans In Name Only.

“These three do not want us to have the border as an issue," McKenna said. "It is absurd to think they had any principles driving this except their principle that they do not want Trump to win this election by using the border as an issue.”

Dan O'Donnell on his eponymous talk show on Wednesday called Gallagher a "very good congressman" but said he was "flat out wrong" to vote against impeaching Mayorkas.

"Does Gallagher deserve to be removed from office for this? No. No he doesn’t," O'Donnell said. "Would I consider if I were a primary challenger in the Green Bay area a challenge to Gallagher in 2024? Sure. Maybe. You know what, you’d have to be pretty well funded to take him on.”

In fact, Alex Bruesewitz, a GOP political consultant and supporter of former President Donald Trump, is reportedly considering a primary challenge to Gallagher, and has repeatedly attacked Gallagher on social media since the vote.

Roger Stone, a former Trump advisor currently under investigation for calling for the deaths of two Democratic lawmakers, wrote on X Wednesday that Bruesewitz "would have the full support of the MAGA movement" if he ran. Bruesewitz has described Wisconsin as his "home state," but Bruesewitz in 2022 told the Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol that he lived in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Gallagher in explaining his vote said President Joe Biden "has created a disaster" at the southern border and said Mayorkas is "faithfully implementing the president’s ruinous policies." But he disputed his colleagues' claims that Mayorkas' actions were criminal.

A day before the vote, he introduced legislation that would require the Biden administration to finish the southern border wall started by Trump.

"Creating a new, lower standard for impeachment, one without any clear limiting principle, wouldn’t secure the border or hold Mr. Biden accountable," Gallagher said. "It would only pry open the Pandora’s box of perpetual impeachment."

Gallagher represents a safe Republican district in northeastern Wisconsin. He is chairman of the select committee investigating the Chinese Communist Party and had been Republicans' top choice to run for Senate in 2024 until he announced last summer he would not run.

In 2022, Democrats didn't field a candidate in the 8th District, and Gallagher won with 73.5% of the vote over an independent candidate and a Libertarian candidate.

De Pere physician Kristin Lyerly, a Democrat, has said she is weighing a challenge to Gallagher. An OB-GYN, Lyerly has been an outspoken proponents of abortion rights in the state.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mike Gallagher faces GOP backlash after blocking Mayorkas impeachment