U.S. House of Representatives
Elections Gallagher served as a Republican staffer on the
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker hired him as a foreign policy advisor in February 2015, in preparation for his
2016 presidential campaign. After Walker dropped out of the presidential race, Gallagher worked as a senior marketing strategist for Breakthrough Fuel, a supply-chain management company. He then ran for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district seat, to which
Reid Ribble was not seeking reelection. Hailing from
Brown County, Wisconsin, he won the district which comprises much of the northeast quadrant of the state of Wisconsin, including the city of
Green Bay, having contended against
Wisconsin state senator Frank Lasee and
Forestville village president Terry McNulty. In the general election, Gallagher defeated
Outagamie County Executive
Tom Nelson, 63% to 36%. He was reelected in 2018 over
Brown County assistant district attorney Beau Liegeois.
Tenure Gallagher voted in line with President
Donald Trump's position 93.8% of the time in the
115th Congress and 84.2% of the time in the
116th Congress, but broke with the White House on issues such as the Trump's firing of FBI Director
James Comey and Trump's denial of
Russian interference in the 2016 elections. He voted against the majority of his party about 8.7% of the time. In 2018, Gallagher argued that power in the House of Representatives was too concentrated in the leadership; he proposed allowing committee members to choose their own chairs and ranking members, rather than having these positions be selected by the parties'
steering committees. This proposal was rejected in a House Republican vote. Gallagher also argued for consolidating the
appropriating and authorizing House committees and a reform of the House calendar that would have the chamber sit "at least five days a week for three consecutive weeks, then spend a full week back in their districts" (a change from the current congressional practice of very short legislative workweeks and frequent long weekends allowing members more time in their districts). His unsuccessful reform proposals were praised by
Norm Ornstein, a scholar of Congress, as "constructive" although unlikely to be adopted. In 2018, Gallagher voted to expand eligibility for
health savings accounts; in 2019, he voted against a proposal to allow the federal government to negotiate lower
prices for prescription drugs.
Foreign affairs by a statue of Sir David Stirling, the founder of the
Special Air Service, at
Campbell Barracks in Western Australia in August 2019In a 2016 profile in the
Green Bay Press Gazette, Gallagher blamed President
Barack Obama and former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton for the success of
ISIS in Iraq. In 2019, he wrote it would be "a smart geopolitical move" for the U.S. to buy
Greenland, a notion that Trump floated. In 2020, Gallagher voted against a measure to block Trump from taking military action against
Iran without Congress's consent. and in 2020 he supported the
U.S. drone strike that targeted Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. In 2019, Gallagher voted for a measure opposing Trump's decision to withdraw
U.S. forces from Syria. He co-signed a letter to Activision Blizzard CEO
Bobby Kotick that read, "As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values—like freedom of speech and thought—or to give in to Beijing’s demands in order to preserve market access." In 2020, Gallagher and
Tom Cotton drafted a bill banning federal agencies, such as the departments of the
Health and Human Services,
Veterans Affairs, and
Defense, from purchasing drugs manufactured in China. In June 2021, Gallagher was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the
AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force) against Iraq. During the
Russo-Ukrainian War, Gallagher signed a letter advocating for President Biden to give
F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. In February 2023, Gallagher chaired the first public hearing of the
Select Committee on China which exposed trade, industrial and security issues such as military arsenal needs for additional
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs),
Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs),
Harpoon anti-ship missiles,
Tomahawk cruise missiles, and
other readiness deficits which require urgent attention in order to deter Chinese aggression in East Asia. In February 2024, Gallagher led a bipartisan
Select Committee on China delegation to Taiwan and met with President
Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect
Lai Ching-te. In June 2025, Gallagher spoke at the
WORLD.MINDS meeting in Washington DC about China, AI and the transatlantic relationship.
Economy In 2017, Gallagher voted to dismantle the
Dodd-Frank financial regulations. Gallagher has sponsored legislation to bar federal agencies from purchasing Chinese-manufactured
drones. In December 2022, he co-sponsored a bill with
Marco Rubio to prohibit Chinese and Russian-owned
social networking services from conducting business transactions in the U.S. under security grounds.
Energy and environment In 2019, Gallagher voted against a resolution to block Trump from
withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on
climate change.
Social issues He voted for the 2018
First Step Act. Gallagher voted for the
Respect for Marriage Act on December 8, 2022.
Other issues Gallagher has been an outspoken critic of the
social media platform
TikTok, which he describes as "digital
fentanyl" because of its allegedly harmful and addictive characteristics. Furthermore, he asserts that TikTok's ties to the
Chinese Communist Party may result in the promotion and
censorship of various content for
propaganda purposes, and he has joined other lawmakers attempting to ban TikTok in the United States. In the wake of the
2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, Gallagher accused TikTok of "intentionally brainwashing" American youth into supporting Hamas, citing the spike in pro-Palestinian content on the platform following the outbreak of hostilities. Gallagher voted against the
impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, and later voted against adopting two
articles of
impeachment against Trump, on charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Gallagher spoke at a Trump rally in Wisconsin in 2019. Gallagher voted against restoring part of the
Voting Rights Act. On January 6, 2021, Gallagher was one of seven Republicans who did not support their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the
2020 presidential election. These seven signed a letter that, while giving credence to election fraud allegations made by Trump, said Congress did not have the authority to influence the election's outcome. During the
2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Gallagher said, "We are witnessing absolute
banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now", and told Trump, "you need to call this off". In May 2021, Gallagher and 174 other House Republicans voted against creating a commission to investigate the storming. He attributed his opposition to a desire to have non-public investigations and wanting "key language preventing interference in the over 400 ongoing criminal prosecutions". As a result, he was given a C− by the
Republican Accountability Project. On January 9, 2021, Gallagher joined a group of other Republican legislators led by
Ken Buck of Colorado in signing a letter to President-elect
Joe Biden, asking him to formally request that House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi halt efforts to impeach Trump. Gallagher voted to provide Israel with support following
2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Gallagher was a surprise vote against the first impeachment vote against Alejandro Mayorkas; the vote was tied for minutes before another Republican changed to allow a reintroduction of the bill in the future. Asked 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'd 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."
Resignation Gallagher announced in February 2024 that he would not run for re-election to the House of Representatives. His announcement came amid his outspoken criticism of the House Republican majority's impeachment of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He later clarified that he would leave Congress in April. After his resignation, Gallagher joined the defense contractor
Palantir as head of defense. In May 2024, the venture capital group TitletownTech, a joint venture of Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers, announced Gallagher had begun a job at their firm.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Armed Services •
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure •
Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (chair)
Caucus memberships •
Republican Study Committee •
Republican Main Street Partnership •
Climate Solutions Caucus •
U.S.-Japan Caucus •
Problem Solvers Caucus ==Publications==