Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the former House speaker who was ousted from his position in October in a revolt by hard-right members, will not seek reelection to his congressional seat and will retire from Congress at the end of this month, he announced Wednesday. “I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.” McCarthy’s retirement will bring to an end a 16-year House career that saw him quickly rise through the ranks of Republican leadership, culminating with his stint as speaker. His ouster marked the first time in history that the House voted to remove its leader, a move that threw the chamber into a period of instability. McCarthy’s departure before the end of his term means California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will have to call a special election to replace him. McCarthy’s term is set to end in January 2025. He represents California’s 20th District, which covers much of the state’s Central Valley. McCarthy’s decision comes in the wake of an announcement Tuesday by one of his closest allies, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), that he is retiring at the end of his term. McHenry served as acting speaker during the three weeks in October after McCarthy’s ouster.
Quick Read
- Kevin McCarthy’s Congressional Departure: Republican Kevin McCarthy announced his departure from Congress in a Wall Street Journal column, ending his tumultuous tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Brief Tenure as Speaker: McCarthy’s brief term as Speaker of the House was marked by internal conflicts and challenges, notably with hardliner Republicans.
- Impact on Republican Party: His departure, after helping the GOP regain House control in 2022, could affect the party’s chances of retaining the majority.
- Decision After Introspection: McCarthy’s decision to leave follows a period of reflection about the impact on his district and his personal aspirations.
- Career in Congress: First elected to Congress in 2007, McCarthy quickly rose through GOP ranks, culminating in a short stint as the top Republican in Congress.
- Conflict with GOP Hardliners: His tenure saw conflicts with hardline Republicans, including a contentious Speaker election process and disagreement over a bipartisan spending measure.
- Replacement by Mike Johnson: McCarthy was replaced as Speaker by Mike Johnson, a newer member of the GOP leadership, after several other candidates were considered.
- Strained Relations with Trump Supporters: McCarthy’s public stance on Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol attack and later realignment with Trump caused friction within the party.
- Deal with Biden and Spending Limit: His agreement with President Biden on U.S. debt and setting a spending limit for fiscal 2024 further alienated hardline Republicans.
- First Speaker Ejected from Chair: McCarthy is the first U.S. House Speaker to be removed from the position, following conflicts with the Republican hard right.
- Launched Impeachment Inquiry into Biden: McCarthy initiated an impeachment inquiry into President Biden focusing on Hunter Biden’s business dealings, which Democrats criticized as politically motivated.
- Future of McCarthy’s District: Despite winning reelection in 2022 by a significant margin, McCarthy’s California district is not currently viewed as a competitive seat by major election analysts.
Reuters has the story:
Former speaker Kevin McCarthy will retire from Congress at end of year
Newslooks- WASHINGTON, (Reuters)
Two months after his historic ouster as House speaker, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy announced Wednesday that he is resigning from his congressional seat in California.
His announcement capped a stunning end for the one-time deli owner from Bakersfield, who ascended through state and national politics to become second in line to the presidency before a contingent of hard-right conservatives engineered his removal in October. McCarthy is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job.
“No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing,” McCarthy wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, announcing his decision.
“It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” he wrote.
McCarthy, who won and lost the role of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in a tumultuous nine months this year, said in a Wall Street Journal column on Wednesday that he will leave Congress, bringing an end to his congressional career.
The departure of the former party leader and campaign fundraising juggernaut, who helped Republicans take control of the House in 2022, could hamper party hopes of retaining the majority next year.
His move followed weeks of introspection as McCarthy considered the consequences for his California district and himself.
“It’s a gut call,” McCarthy said at a New York Times event on Nov. 29. “I want to know that it’s the right thing to do.”
McCarthy, who first entered Congress in 2007, spent the ensuing years rising through party leadership ranks in the House before beginning a brief but wild term as the top Republican in Congress.
His toppling from the chamber’s top post was fueled by grievances from his party’s hard-right flank, including over his decision to work with Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than risk a shutdown.
McCarthy, 58, arrived in the House in January 2007 after a stint in the California Assembly, where he served as minority leader. In Congress, he maneuvered through his party’s hierarchy — serving as majority whip and Republican leader along the way — before being elected speaker in January 2023.
The dayslong floor fight that preceded his elevation to the House’s top job foreshadowed a stormy tenure, at a time when former President Donald Trump remained the de facto leader of the party and deep divisions within the GOP raised serious questions about the party’s ability to govern.
It took a record 15 votes over four days for McCarthy to line up the support he needed to win the post he had long coveted, finally prevailing on a 216-212 vote with Democrats backing leader Hakeem Jeffries and six Republican holdouts voting present. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of counting.
McCarthy emerged from the fight weakened, especially considering Republicans held only a fragile margin in the chamber after a predicted “red wave” failed to materialize in the 2022 elections.
His tenure as speaker was marked by stormy relations with Republican hardliners, who forced him to ensure 15 humiliating floor votes before receiving the gavel last January, and then voted him out on Oct. 3 after he backed a bipartisan spending measure that averted a government shutdown.
He was replaced by Speaker Mike Johnson, a relative newcomer to the leadership, after weeks of Republican infighting in which three more seasoned candidates were nominated and then rejected.
McCarthy ran afoul of hardliners when he publicly said that former President Donald Trump bore responsibility for the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, days after the violence, though he later repeatedly voiced allegiance to the former president.
He also drew their ire earlier this year by striking a deal with President Joe Biden that averted a default on U.S. debt and set a $1.59 trillion spending limit for fiscal 2024. Hardliners shuttered the House floor in days over the spending agreement but have since said they would accept it.
McCarthy was the first U.S. House speaker to be ejected from the chair. But he will become the third Republican speaker, after John Boehner and Paul Ryan, to leave Congress following repeated clashes with the Republican hard right.
He launched an impeachment inquiry into Democratic President Joe Biden, focused on Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s business dealings, which Democrats have denounced as politically motivated and unsubstanitated by evidence.
Once installed as speaker, his well-known savvy for fundraising and political glad-handing appeared ill-suited for corralling his party’s disputatious hard-right faction. And deals he cut to become speaker — including a rules change that allowed any single lawmaker to file a motion to remove him — left him vulnerable.
When he became speaker, “he faced new challenges that required a different skill set,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney, a one-time domestic policy analyst for House Republicans. And “the deals he made to become speaker made it almost impossible for him to succeed as speaker.”
McCarthy, the son of a firefighter and a homemaker, has long depicted himself as an unflagging battler. He is fond of quoting his father, who told him, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
McCarthy hails from Bakersfield, a Republican-leaning area in Central California where oil derricks blanket hillsides and country music fans pack into Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace hall. Far from the Southern California beaches and tony San Francisco restaurants, farming and oil pumping shape the economy.
McCarthy won reelection in 2022 by a 35-point margin and his California district is not seen as competitive by the three main non-partisan election forecasters.
McCarthy’s downfall was precipitated by a motion to vacate him from the House’s top leadership position from Rep. Matt Gaetz, a far-right Florida Republican and McCarthy’s antagonist. McCarthy’s detractors accused him of not keeping promises made during a lengthy fight to secure the speaker’s gavel in January.
It took Republicans three weeks to select McCarthy’s successor — Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), a relatively unknown lawmaker who, unlike McCarthy, had not spent time in GOP leadership before being thrown into the spotlight.
