What Mike Gallagher's early departure means

I'm Hope Karnopp and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning.

While you might have gotten some snow this weekend, today and tomorrow are all about rain. It'll rain pretty steadily until it slows down Tuesday afternoon, and up to an inch in total precipitation is possible. Flooding is unlikely because conditions are so dry, but watch for pools of water on roads during tonight's commute.

What Mike Gallagher's early departure means

U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, who represents northeastern Wisconsin, shocked many when he announced in February that he wouldn't seek reelection. But even more surprising is his decision Friday to depart Congress before his term is up. His office said the move was a "family decision."

Gallagher plans to leave April 19, which is after the deadline in state law to hold a special election. That means the seat will remain empty until after the August primary and November general election. Republicans who are lining up to replace him criticized this, arguing he's trying to deliberately hurt the party, which his office has denied. Some county party chairs are considering asking Speaker Mike Johnson to expel him earlier.

His early departure means the GOP's majority in the U.S. House is even tighter. The party can now only afford one member to break on party-line votes, meaning it will be more complicated for them to pass their agenda. "It makes it ... incredibly hard to try and either manage a compromise or run something up for a vote," one strategist said.

About 220 Milwaukee voters got wrong ballots

Nearly 220 Milwaukee voters were mailed absentee ballots for Common Council districts other than their own ahead of the April 2 election, a problem the city's top election official said would have been caught before the ballots were sent out had employees followed procedures. Disciplinary action has been taken.

A letter explaining what happened accompanied new ballots sent to affected voters early last week, and the office worked Thursday to determine whether any other wards were affected. This week, the office will consider going door-to-door to contact voters who have not returned the new ballot to ensure they got the second ballot and understood the instructions.

"I can't express how frustrating and infuriating it is that it just seems like there was no critical thinking involved or communication," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall said. "I understand this has eroded a lot of trust in what should be a perfect process."

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Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on Twitter at @hopekarnopp.

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