China hawk Mike Gallagher bridges GOP’s establishment, Trump wings

Rep. Mike Gallagher never intended to be in Washington for the long haul.

Since being elected in 2016, the Wisconsin Republican has advocated for congressional reforms such as term limits and lobbying restrictions for officeholders.

The Green Bay representative is a policy wonk who is careful with words, and often prefers to dabble in foreign affairs than culture wars that have piqued the interest of many of his GOP colleagues.

In a party that remains dominated by the boisterous shadow of former President Donald Trump, Mr. Gallagher’s academic approach to politics doesn’t always fit in.

But the lawmaker said he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about how others perceive him.

“I sort of consider myself part of a new generation of members to the veterans,” Mr. Gallagher, 37, said in an interview with The Washington Times. “And I think the hope is we kind of bring a new perspective.”

Mr. Gallagher’s personal background is impressive.

He has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and later went on to receive a master’s degree and an International Relations Ph.D. from Georgetown University.

Mr. Gallagher also served seven years on active duty with the United States Marine Corps.

Despite keeping his head low, the third-term congressman has already caught the attention of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. Gallagher has sponsored several bipartisan bills with other foreign policy hawks, and has been floated as a potential Senate contender to replace Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who has yet to announce his reelection.

Mr. Gallagher, however, did not provide a direct answer on his intentions to run for the seat, given Mr. Johnson’s pending decision.

Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, likened Mr. Gallagher to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on his ability to tread carefully in the GOP space between the establishment wing and the pro-Trumpers.

“He has a really deep, serious interest in national security, and economic competitiveness, those kinds of issues,” Mr. Burden said. “But it’s hard to characterize him because he’s also being pulled by the Trump elements in the party, the kind of fringier aspects of the Republican coalition. He hasn’t rejected those.”

Mr. Gallagher has spoken at Trump rallies in Wisconsin, but has also been critical of the former president at times.

He dismissed a Trump rally chant of “Send her back” aimed at Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as being “abhorrent” after Mr. Trump made a similar controversial directive towards the far-Left “Squad” members in 2019.

On the day of the Jan. 6 riot, Mr. Gallagher posted a video that caught the eye of national media, after he urged Mr. Trump to put an end to his claims of a stolen election.

“Mr. President, you have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off. Call it off. The election is over,” Mr. Gallagher said in the video. “This is bigger than you. It’s bigger than any member of Congress. It is about the United States of America, which is more important than any politician.”

The lawmaker also sneered at his Republican colleagues’ rejection of the 2020 election results, alluding to the move as “a dangerous idea.”

Mr. Gallagher, however, later voted against the creation of a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, and the second impeachment of Mr. Trump, which was prompted by the riot.

But, treading the line in a political climate that’s become increasingly polarized has gotten harder, especially when representing a district that still leans in favor of Mr. Trump.

Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District, which includes Green Bay in the state’s northeast region, is home to several pivotal counties that voted twice for former President Barack Obama before flipping to Donald Trump in 2016.

In 2020, the majority of counties in Mr. Gallagher’s district went again for Mr. Trump, despite President Biden narrowly winning the state as a whole.

Mr. Trump’s loss in Wisconsin and other states prompted a series of legal battles by his campaign, which spread unproven allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Mr. Burden said northeast Wisconsin has shifted strongly in favor of Mr. Trump’s brand of politics in recent years, giving Mr. Gallagher a comfortable chance at reelection to the House in the GOP-leaning district.

The professor also said despite the lawmaker’s niche interests on the global stage, the issues he cares about do have ties to his district when it comes to things like trade with China.

Wisconsin has been caught in the middle of dealing with escalating tariffs between the U.S. and China, given its rich exports like dairy products, cranberries, and ginseng.

Mr. Gallagher, who is a member of the GOP-led China Task Force, said he thinks the country’s approach to China over the last two decades has been “a bipartisan failure” led by a stagnant perspective to integrate the Chinese Communist Party into the global economy.

With new speculation in Washington over China’s role in the COVID-19 outbreak, Mr. Gallagher said confronting Beijing is one of the few issues garnering bipartisan interest in a bitterly divided Congress.

Mr. Gallagher has even given credit to some of those across the aisle who share nearly polar opposite stances from him on other issues.

“Some of the loudest voices against the Chinese Communist Party actually come from the far Left,” Mr. Gallagher said. “Ilhan Omar has been one of the most vocal critics of the CCP because of forced labor, slave labor in Xinjiang province.”

Mr. Gallagher said, for now, he just wants to continue contributing to the national conversation on U.S. security and foreign policy.

But, his ability to reach a wide array of people — a seeming rarity in today’s partisan politics — may serve him well if he decides to pursue higher office.

“I think a lot of people in the party think he’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Mr. Burden said. “He’s ingratiated himself with the military hawks, with the Trump anti-Washington types, with the Paul Ryan wonk elements in the party, [and] with social conservatives. I think all of them would be on board with a Gallagher campaign.”