Political strategist and Trump ally Alex Bruesewitz said Wednesday that he is seriously considering waging a primary challenge against Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin in response to Gallagher’s vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Impeachment failed on a 214-216 vote, with Gallagher joined by Republican Reps. Tom McClintock of California, Ken Buck of Colorado and Blake Moore of Utah. Moore later said his vote was cast in part to smooth the process for the vote to be reconsidered.
Gallagher was criticized for his vote.
“Mike Gallagher’s political career should be over. We will work with the patriots in Wisconsin’s 8th district to primary him. Just like Lankford, we have no room for these people who cover for traitors like Mayorkas,” Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA posted on X. Kirk’s post references Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who was one of the Senate Republicans who had a hand in negotiating a border security bill Republicans have rejected.
Thank you, @StephenM for calling out RINO @RepGallagher’s BS statement.
The real reason he didn’t impeach Mayorkas is because he made a swampy back room deal (quid pro quo) to save his a**.
Gallagher betrayed the Republican Party and failed the American people for his own… https://t.co/KnFZhafZfa
— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) February 7, 2024
Bruesewitz, who joined in the criticism, said in a post on X that he may step up.
“I’m sure many of you have seen the reports that I am considering running for Congress in my home state of Wisconsin against @RepGallagher,” he wrote.
“I am NOT CONFIRMING a run at this time. I have NOT made a decision on this yet. But I will be taking a STRONG LOOK. Over the last 24 hours I have received dozens of texts and phone calls from Members of Congress and grassroots leaders across the country and back home in Wisconsin calling on me to run because Gallagher refused to impeach the disastrous Biden DHS Secretary,” he wrote.
I’m sure many of you have seen the reports that I am considering running for Congress in my home state of Wisconsin against @RepGallagher. I am NOT CONFIRMING a run at this time. I have NOT made a decision on this yet. But I will be taking a STRONG LOOK.
Over the last 24 hours I…
— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) February 8, 2024
“It is my hope that Rep. Gallagher reverses course and supports the will of his constituents and the American people, and impeaches Mayorkas! During this time period my main focus will continue to be on getting MAGA Republicans elected to the house and senate and OF COURSE @realDonaldTrump back in the White House!” he wrote.
A report in The Hill citing a source it did not name noted that Bruesewitz currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida, but is from Gallagher’s district. The source indicated Bruesewitz will hold an event in the 8th Congressional District to test the waters.
“Alex has had a ton of reach-out from members of Congress and Trump orbit about challenging Gallagher after this vote,” the source said. “He has become the RINO slayer, just look at what he did to [Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)] and [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis].”
“Gallagher is next for him potentially,” the source noted.
Would you like to see this happen?
Gallagher was facing severe criticism in Wisconsin for his vote, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
“I can no longer tolerate nor support someone who will not follow his constitutional duties and the wishes of his constituents,” Oconto County Republican chairman Ken Sikor said in a letter to other county Republican leaders within Gallagher’s district. “I am calling on all District 8 Chairs to unite and condemn this betrayal.”
In an Op-Ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Gallagher said impeachment was the wrong answer to the border crisis.
Doug Reich, the Republican chair of Brown County, noted the congressman’s “apprehension regarding impeachment’s misuse as a tool for settling policy disputes” but said the impeachment vote “serves as a powerful affirmation of our members’ grave concerns about the federal government’s dereliction of duty,” according to the Journal-Sentinel.
“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 said.
Conservative talk show host Vikki McKenna called Gallagher and those who voted with him “a bunch of feckless, spineless RINOS, ” using the acronym for Republicans In Name Only.
