GOP political consultant Alex Bruesewitz has emerged in recent years as a key online ally of Donald Trump, coming to the former president’s defense when he’s attacked and consistently going on offense to needle Trump’s enemies, like Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Joe Biden.
But after a House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failed on Tuesday, Bruesewitz has a new target: Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI).
Bruesewitz told The Daily Beast Wednesday night that he is forming an exploratory committee to primary the Wisconsin Republican, and he’s explicitly using the vote as his reason to run.
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“Mike is completely out of touch,” Brueswitz told The Daily Beast during a phone interview. “He is not the type of fighter that our party needs right now. And the voters of Wisconsin’s [8th district] will have the opportunity to hold him accountable.”
A native of Ripon, Wisconsin—the supposed birthplace of the GOP, located just outside the district—Bruesewitz has emerged as a top MAGA gadfly. He weighed running for Gallagher’s seat when Gallagher was considering a run for Senate. But when Gallagher decided against opposing Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and opted to instead go for re-election to his House seat, Bruesiwitz stood down.
At least, until yesterday.
Until the failed vote to impeach Mayorkas, Bruesewitz said he had no issue with Gallagher. Now, after the vote, Bruesewitz said Gallagher simply “can’t be trusted.”
“I will be forming an exploratory committee,” Bruesewitz said. “And that will be coming in the coming weeks or days. And, you know, we are going to be taking a very serious look. We will be hosting multiple events. We'll be bringing in MAGA allies in and out of the district. And we're gonna be testing the waters.”
After the failed resolution Tuesday—which came up one vote short of adoption—Bruesewitz quickly took to the social media app formerly known as Twitter to say Gallagher is “a disgrace to my home state of Wisconsin and the Republican Party.” He called Gallagher’s vote “unforgivable.”
Gallagher, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was among three Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas for “repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security.” (The other two were Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tom McClintock (R-CA).)
But Gallagher defended his vote against impeaching Mayorkas in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, saying he believed impeaching the Homeland Security Secretary would set a “dangerous new precedent” that would “be used against future Republican administrations.”
Bruesewitz didn’t buy Gallagher’s explanation. He said Democrats had already set that precedent when they impeached Trump twice “over bullshit.”
(Trump was impeached the first time in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress when he called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and dangled the possibility of withholding military aid from Ukraine unless Zelensky announced an investigation into Biden. Trump was impeached a second time, exactly a week after Jan. 6, for incitement of an insurrection following the attack on the Capitol.)
Still, GOP voters continue to be enamored with Trump—and Bruesewitz clearly sees a lane as a MAGA alternative to Gallagher.
The Wisconsin College Republicans quickly announced on Wednesday that they would be endorsing Bruesewitz if he gets in the race. So, too, did Trump’s former campaign manager, Roger Stone.
Bruesewitz told The Daily Beast that Stone would likely be coming out to campaign with him following the creation of the exploratory committee.
In many ways, Bruesewitz has emerged as a modern day Stone, who was known in his time for his own dirty tricks and attention-grabbing antics. During the 2024 primary campaign, Bruesewitz was particularly relentless on DeSantis rapid response director Christina Pushaw. Bruesewitz posted pictures of Pushaw blowing smoke and suggested it was drugs, and he mocked Pushaw for supposedly getting plastic surgery.
In a post on X, Stone said that if Bruesewitz were to run, he would have “the full support of the MAGA movement.”
Sure enough, Trump allies were quick to express support for Bruesewitz—albeit on background.
“If Alex pulls the trigger on a primary against Mike Gallagher, expect the entire MAGA movement to come out en masse to support him,” one Trump ally told The Daily Beast.
Another Trump ally made similar points, singling out Gallagher in a way that may make other members of Congress think twice about crossing Trump.
“Mike Gallagher made his own bed here,” this second Trump ally said, again on background. “It’s an easy vote. Mayorkas has been a disaster at the border. If you look at Alex Bruesewitz, he has deep ties to Trump and has allies in the House and Senate. He is close with donors down in Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago who are very pro-Trump and are furious at Gallagher. It’s a real possibility that if Alex decides to jump in this race, he’ll be formidable.”
