Last Tuesday, all eyes turned to House speaker Paul Ryan’s supposedly dramatic Wisconsin primary. But while the spotlight focused on Ryan’s congressional district, less than 150 miles away in northeastern Wisconsin’s eighth congressional district — the home of the Green Bay Packers — Republican state senator Frank Lasee, the establishment favorite, was losing badly in his bid to take over the seat of retiring Republican congressman Reid Ribble. Marine Corps veteran Mike Gallagher beat Lasee by 54 points.
“This is a year where people are so dissatisfied with the status quo,” Gallagher tells National Review in the aftermath of his primary victory. “Should I get elected, my intent is to treat it like a deployment and not like a career.”
Gallagher announced his insurgent candidacy in February — in the seven weeks that followed, his campaign raised half a million dollars. To date, the campaign has raised almost $1.2 million: “Ninety-eight percent of our donations in the primary came from individuals,” Gallagher explains, many of whom served with him in the military.
A former Marine Corps captain, Gallagher served as an intelligence officer during his seven years on active duty. He also worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the National Counterterrorism Center, and was a national-security adviser for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign.
