Milwaukee, Wis. — The race for Mike Gallagher’s vacated eighth congressional district seat may well alter the complexion of Congress as the special election’s primary nears in early August. While the Democrats have their candidate in Kristin Lyerly, an OB/GYN, the GOP must decide between Roger Roth and André Jacque, both state legislators. There the similarities largely end: Roth is a Scott Walker–endorsed Air National Guardsman with four deployments and a background in construction, while Jacque has made his living in and around government in comms, transit, and the Wisconsin assembly and senate. With the RNC in full swing, I met with Roth in the basement of the UW-Milwaukee Panther arena (and plan to interview Jacque and Lyerly by week’s end).
Roth, standing on a service ramp next to a translucent window, leans against the wall in the manner of after-church fellowshipping and chatter. Slim and tall, typical Wisconsin stock, he’s at ease — and passionate — as I press him about why anyone outside of Green Bay or the Fox Cities should care about his race.
“As Northeast Wisconsin goes, so goes the state of the nation.” He explained that Wisconsin politics have generally depended on southeastern counties outperforming to elect conservatives. Now, however, it’s Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago and their growing populations that could give Joe Biden another four years or send him packing.
A GOP victory in the eighth congressional district means a critical swing state is practically guaranteed to earn Trump a second term. Additionally, it would ensure that Republicans maintain their hold of the House. Should Republicans lose in that corner of the state, the Right’s hopes for the White House and Congress would be imperiled.
The GOP’s tremulous hold on the House has been increasingly threatened this year, as the eighth’s current member, Mike Gallagher, departed early, citing personal reasons that included death threats against his family, a job offer at defense-oriented tech company Palantir, and a role at a venture-capital firm that’s a partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers. Given constituents’ frustration with their congressman’s early retirement and the resulting absence of representation, I asked Roth if he would go on record and pledge to finish out his term. His answer: “100 percent.”
“When you run for office,” he said, “you are making a commitment to voters. And just like when I was in the military — I went on my four deployments to the Middle East — I couldn’t come home early. I had a mission, I had a job to do until the job was done. The same is true here. I look at this [serving in Congress] as a deployment. I’m going to go on the last couple deployments of my life here.”
Our conversation then turned to Trump’s VP pick, J. D. Vance, whom he called “a great pick” because of his Ohio upbringing, ostensibly similar to that experienced by many in Wisconsin who saw the departure of manufacturing. I mentioned the Teamster boss speaking at the convention the night before and wondered about how the free-market types (those at Cato and AEI, for example) can make peace with labor, and whether that would allow for a winning political coalition. Roth was quick to differentiate between private and public unions as two separate considerations and pointed to a right-to-work Wisconsin as the blueprint for national labor — union representation for those who wish to join.
Then, we talked of ships, with Marinette’s Fincantieri shipyards set to produce the Navy’s next-gen frigate but already years behind schedule: “I want to serve on the House Armed Services Committee. I believe that my military background will allow me to be an advocate, . . . to make sure that we are funding industrial supply chains to make sure that we have the resources necessary to win the next war.”
What of the national debt? Claw back money from Covid and green-energy infrastructure spending and then — following the model of Wisconsin Republicans under Walker — erase a billion-dollar deficit. While the scale is different, the blueprint for a solvent government begins with responsible people in Wisconsin who’ve done the work, was how Roth presented it.
Finally, when asked to describe André Jacque, his primary opponent, Roth took a moment to consider. After noting that a third man, Tony Wied, is on the Republican primary ballot and received a Trump nod but has no connections in the area, Roth said: “Cream rises to the top and iron sharpens iron. I’m excited about this primary. With 28 days to go, we’re giving it our all.”
He continued, “We’ve got the winning message: Small-business, blue-collar guy with 20 years in the military and four deployments. My wife and I are raising five little boys in Appleton” (one of the district’s largest cities). “We go through the same challenges other families in Northeast Wisconsin have to go through.”
When asked if the Packers would win it all this year, Roth laughingly assented but then, getting serious (as Wisconsinites do about the Packers), figured we would know what kind of team they are by the sixth game.