The Northeast Wisconsin Way
America has a proud history of coming together in times of crisis and working together to overcome any obstacle, but right now, we seem more interested in tearing each other apart.
Just turn on the TV, open the mailbox, or go online and there are a host of partisan talking-heads, tearing each other down and trying to turn us against one another. The political groups do it to profit off division and outrage. It’s the only industry in America that’s immune to the negative economic effects of the pandemic. The political class is thriving while everyday Americans are suffering.
I refuse to play their game. Despite personal attacks on me and my family, I have run a purely positive, issue-based campaign because I believe we need to come together to get our country out of this crisis. It’s all hands on deck. This virus doesn’t discriminate based on whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican. We are all in this together and we need to work together.
That’s the Northeast Wisconsin way. We don’t blame other people for our problems, we tackle our biggest problems together, head-on with hard work and humility. We might not agree on everything with our neighbors, but we choose to set aside our differences to make our community a better place. We treat each other with kindness and respect.
This is the approach that has guided me in Congress. I don’t waste time bashing opponents or blaming others for all of our problems. Instead, I focus on solving problems. This is what I learned in the Marine Corps: you work together to accomplish the mission to protect those you love. This approach has allowed me to deliver results for Northeast Wisconsin even while Congress and the country are bitterly divided.
Since I first asked for your vote in 2016, I helped secure 5,000 jobs in our community, as the Navy will build their next generation frigate right here in Marinette. I fought for our farmers by passing the USMCA trade agreement to end unfair trade practices and open new markets for Wisconsin dairy. I created a veteran-to-veteran sponsorship program that helps returning veterans reacclimate to civilian life because, as a Marine Corps veteran, I know how challenging it can be to return home. I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to lower drug costs and increase transparency in our healthcare system.
To combat COVID-19, I immediately suspended my political campaign and donated a portion of my campaign funds to food banks and non-profits in need of help. I led a Personal Protective Equipment drive with local first responders to provide critical supplies to our front-line workers. I worked with Feeding America to deliver meals to those struggling with food insecurity during a tough economic time. I secured a donation of 100,000 masks from Taiwan for our community. I worked across the aisle to secure access to life-saving drugs for Wisconsin families and to create a commission to identify and enact long-term policy solutions for Wisconsin’s dairy industry. And I fought for Wisconsin farmers, hospitals, and businesses so they received their fair share of federal resources during an unprecedented crisis. With your help we saved over 1 million jobs in Wisconsin.
There is more work to be done. We can defeat this disease without defeating ourselves. We need to help our economy rebound from the effect of COVID-19 and we need to address threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party and other actors that wish to do us harm. It’s why I have authored legislation to make sure that we make critical medical supplies in the United States, so we are not reliant on foreign countries in times of crisis. I have called for taking on the Chinese Communist Party head-on, as they represent a clear threat to our nation’s economic well-being.
I will work with anyone to keep this country safe and strong and I will be a voice and an advocate for all those in Northeast Wisconsin, even those who disagree with me.
Because the fact is, I was privileged to be born in Northeast Wisconsin and to grow up in a family that taught me the values of faith, community, and hard work. My family taught me that we are all blessed to be Americans, citizens of the greatest nation in the history of the world.
Yet with that blessing comes a duty to serve. I was privileged to serve the country I love in the United States Marine Corps, where I served with true heroes — the young men and women in uniform who sacrificed everything to keep us safe.
And over the past four years, I have been privileged to serve you in Congress, where I’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to deliver wins for Northeast Wisconsin and the unsung heroes of our community.
If you give me the privilege of serving you for two more years, I promise to continue to treat my term in Congress like a deployment, not a career. With your help, we will ensure Northeast Wisconsin remains the very best place in the country to live, work, and raise a family, and that our community emerges from the present crisis stronger and more united than ever before.
Congressman Mike Gallagher is a husband, father and 7th generation Green Bay native. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the chairman of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and the only Wisconsinite on the House China Task Force. Prior to Congress, he spent seven years in the Marines, earning the rank of captain and served as a counterintelligence officer in the Middle East and North Africa, deploying twice to Iraq. Mike and his wife, Anne, reside in Green Bay with their baby daughter, Grace.
