Some are concerned that former President Donald Trump could lose his place on the ballot in the upcoming 2024 general election, possibly at the behest of mainstream Republicans who have orchestrated recent events in Congress.

Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican representing the 8th Congressional district of Wisconsin, declared his intention to retire from the House of Representatives at the conclusion of his current tenure in office earlier this year, as Troy Smith of Slingshot News reported.

Gallagher declared publicly on February 10, 2024, that he would not be running for re-election to his position in 2024, thereby further eroding the Republican Party's precarious majority in the House of Representatives.

Other Resignations

George Santos, who represented the 3rd congressional district of New York, and was expelled from Congress on December 1, 2023,  will be leaving alongside Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), Bill Johnson (R0OH) and former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). In total, the Republican Party has lost four members to retirement already.

At the moment, the Democratic Party occupies 213 seats in the House, whereas the Republican Party retains a mere 218. On Friday, March 22nd, Colorado Representative Ken Buck formally tendered his resignation, thereby reducing the Republican majority by an additional seat.

Following the departure of Mike Gallagher on April 19th, the Republican majority in the House will be reduced to 217, which is the absolute minimum required to progress legislation within the chamber.

At present, the Republican Party is on the verge of losing their majority in the House and relinquishing unilateral control of Washington, D.C. to Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Such a scenario would require only one retirement.

Timing of the decision

The timing of the decision and the apparent malevolence surrounding Gallagher's retirement suggested that Wisconsin law would permit Republicans to hold a special election to choose his successor in the event that Gallagher had retired mere days prior.

Had Gallagher opted to vacate office prior to the second Tuesday of April, a special election would have been held to select his successor.

As of the 19th, the second Friday of April, when Gallagher announces his retirement, his seat will remain vacant until the 8th district of Wisconsin candidate victorious in the 2024 election succeeds him.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has criticized Gallagher for resigning from office after the special election deadline has passed, and has even demanded that Gallagher be expelled from Congress prior to the impending deadline.

The ramifications

In order to comprehend the ramifications of a Republican majority loss in the House of Representatives on the 2024 Election, one need only examine the recent ruling by the Supreme Court concerning the ballot access of former President Donald Trump in the aforementioned election.

In that decision, the Supreme Court unequivocally declared that the authority to deny an individual access to the Presidential ballot resided with Congress, rather than with individual states. The preservation of the Republican majority in the House would render the elimination of Trump from the presidential ballot an exceedingly remote possibility.

In the event that the Democrats were to regain authority in the House prior to the 2024 Election, it would be virtually certain that President Trump would be removed from the presidential ballot.

Should Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats reclaim control of the House, taken together with the fact that the Democrats already hold a slim majority in the Senate, it would be sufficient to pass any legislation they desire.

Once more, it appears that former President Donald Trump faces the greatest threat not from the Democratic Party but from members of his own party. There are numerous similarities among those who have elected to retire from Congress in 2024 without running for re-election.