California Rep. Gallegly opts against challenging HASC Chairman McKeon

GOP House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon will not face what analysts had predicted would have been a tough reelection fight against another veteran California Republican.

Twenty-five year House veteran Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) announced over the weekend that he will retire, ending speculation that had cropped up in defense circles that the intensely pro-military McKeon’s seat was in jeopardy.

"The decision to step aside at this time did not come lightly," Gallegly said in a statement. He said he and his wife decided this is the proper time for them to start “the next chapter in our lives.''

A McKeon-Gallegly showdown was made possible by the California’s Legislature’s revamp of that state’s political districts.

Gallegly’s decision likely opens the door to the return to Congress next January of McKeon, one of the military’s strongest allies.

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