Michael John Gallagher (born March 3, 1984) is an American foreign policy advisor and Republican politician from Brown County, Wisconsin. He served four terms in the United States House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 8th congressional district from 2017 until his resignation in April 2024.

While serving in the 118th United States Congress, Gallagher was the chairman of the House Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party. He was a decisive vote against the impeachment of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in February 2024, resulting in outrage directed against him from some members of his party. Days later, Gallagher announced he would not run for a fifth term in Congress. A month later, he announced he would not finish his term, and would resign effective April 19, 2024. He later moved his resignation to April 20, 2024, so he could vote in favor of aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Regional press reported that Gallagher would be taking a role with TitletownTech, a venture capital firm backed by Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers.

Before his election to Congress, Gallagher served as a military intelligence officer for seven years, including overseas deployments in the Iraq War, and worked as committee staff on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is married to Broadway actress Anne Horak Gallagher.

Early life Education Gallagher lived in Green Bay through middle school. After his parents' divorce, he moved to California and studied at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, while spending summers in Wisconsin. Gallagher later said his teachers "endowed me with a love for history and set me on a path to earning a Ph.D. focusing on Cold War history." He graduated in 2002 as valedictorian.Stein, Jason; Gallagher went from Green Bay to Iraq, Capitol Hill; Journal Sentinel, October 10, 2016; https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/10/10/gallagher-went-green-bay-iraq-capitol-hill/91664942

Gallagher earned his B.A. in 2006 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. With a growing interest in global security, he changed his major from Spanish to Arabic. Gallagher completed a 117-page senior thesis, "New Approaches to Asymmetric Threats in the Middle East: From Fighting to Winning", under the supervision of Frederick Hitz. At this time he completed a summer internship abroad with the RAND Europe (UK) CIC in Cambridge, United Kingdom, working on a strategic study of terrorist groups such as Basque separatists.

Gallagher served his first tour of duty in the Iraq War with the United States Marine Corps. Subsequently, Gallagher began a MSSI (Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence) at National Intelligence University and graduated in 2010.

Gallagher completed a second M.A. in security studies at Georgetown University in 2012. He then began doctoral studies, writing a dissertation on the administrations of Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Cold War, receiving his Ph.D. in government and international relations in 2015. His dissertation committee was chaired by Andy Bennett and included Keir A Lieber and Colin Dueck.

Military

Gallagher was an intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving seven years (2006–13) on active duty. He twice deployed to the Al Anbar Province, Iraq, serving on General David Petraeus's CENTCOM Assessment Team, both as a commander of intelligence teams in Al-Qa'im near the Syrian border.

His first deployment was in November 2007 to lead a counterintelligence and human intelligence team, a time when al-Qaeda appeared to have been defeated by the Iraq War troop surge of 2007; giving "some semblance of stability in the town." He made a back-to-back deployment from 2008, taking over from a team led by Matt Pottinger. He assessed American military strategy in the Middle East and Central Asia in his role as a counterintelligence officer, and as a member of the CENTCOM assessment team.

In an interview with The American Interest, Gallagher was very critical of the Obama administration's subsequent drawdown of United States troops from Iraq, because:"... all the predictions we made at the time about creating a vacuum and how dangerous that was proved to be true. And I think the broader regional policy in the Obama Administration of seeking accommodation with the Iranian regime in the hopes that this would produce what the President referred to as a new equilibrium in the region produced exactly the opposite: disequilibrium.

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.Rodewald, Adam; Mike Gallagher takes aim at career politicians; Greenbay Gazette; September 16, 2016; http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/09/16/mike-gallagher-takes-aim-career-politicians/89787538 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,Thomas, Mike; All eyes on Mike Gallagher; Post-Crescent; September 2, 2016; http://www.postcrescent.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/09/02/all-eyes-mike-gallagher/89781614 63% to 36%. He was reelected in 2018 over Brown County assistant district attorney Beau Liegeois.Haley BeMiller, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher defeats Democrat Beau Liegeois for second term in Congress, Green Bay Press-Gazette (November 6, 2018).

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,Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump: Mike Gallagher, Republican representative for Wisconsin's 8th District , FiveThirtyEight (last accessed November 3, 2020). 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).Craig Gilbert, Mike Gallagher, GOP freshman from Green Bay, says Congress is toothless, dysfunctional , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (November 16, 2018). His unsuccessful reform proposals were praised by Norm Ornstein, a scholar of Congress, as "constructive" although unlikely to be adopted.

Health care and public health In 2017, he called the ACA "unsustainable".

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin, Gallagher's district had some of the nation's highest infection rates. He did not take a position on the Wisconsin state legislature's lawsuit seeking to invalidate Governor Tony Evers's directive to mandate the wearing of masks in public as a way to combat the transmission of the virus.Laura Schulte & Molly Beck, Mike Gallagher silent on effort to overturn mask mandate as district worsens as one of country's COVID-19 hot spots , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (October 12, 2020).

Foreign affairs In 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.Rodewald, Adam; Mike Gallagher takes aim at career politicians; Green Bay Press-Gazette; September 16, 2016; http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/09/16/mike-gallagher-takes-aim-career-politicians/89787538 In 2019, he wrote it would be "a smart geopolitical move" for the U.S. to buy Greenland, a notion that Trump floated. In 2017, he supported a U.S. airstrike in Syria in retaliation for the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack,Scott Bauer, Trump airstrike gets rare bipartisan praise in Wisconsin , Associated Press (April 7, 2017). and in 2020 he supported the U.S. drone strike that targeted Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.Haley BeMiller, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher applauds airstrike that killed Iranian 'architect of chaos' in Middle East , Green Bay Press-Gazette (January 3, 2020).

In 2019, after American video game company Activision Blizzard punished a Hong Kong-based professional gamer for supporting pro-democracy Hong Kong protests, Gallagher accused Blizzard of censorship. 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 ChinaHouse Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. (28 February 2023). "Select Committee on China Hearing on U.S. National Security." C-Span website Retrieved 10 June 2023. 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.Michael Hirsh. (9 June 2023). "The Friday Read: The Pentagon Is Freaking Out About a Potential War With China (Because America might lose.)". Politico website Retrieved 10 June 2023.

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