Only a few weeks after being removed from office, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced his retirement from Congress at the end of the year. After receiving 15 votes in January—the minimum number needed to be elected as speaker—McCarthy was voted in.
The former speaker was dismissed from his post on October 3 with the backing of eight fellow Republicans, as well as all House Democrats. McCarthy stated he will leave the House at the end of this year to pursue new opportunities to serve the country.
McCarthy, an elected official from California who serves in the Assembly, was chosen as speaker of the House in January following Republicans’ narrow victory in the chamber. An internal party vote backed him, but he was opposed on the floor, resulting in a disorganized four days’ worth of voting.
McCarthy has long sought for the speakership of the House. After making compromises with his far-right caucus members, he was elected. To avoid a government shutdown and give Republicans more time to negotiate a budget for the upcoming year, McCarthy initially conceded by allowing any legislator to launch a motion to remove the speaker and finance the government through a continuing resolution in late September.
On October 3, far-right Republicans submitted a proposal to oust House Speaker McCarthy because they were dissatisfied with the ongoing resolution. Along with every House Democrat, eight Republicans—Gaetz, Biggs, Buck, Burchett, Crane, Good, Good, Mace, and Rosendale—voted to remove McCarthy from office.
McCarthy’s supporter Patrick McHenry served for three weeks as the House’s temporary speaker until far-right conservative Mike Johnson was elected. McHenry declared that he would leave Congress at the end of 2024.
As one of the GOP’s most active funders, McCarthy has raised around $16 million in the current election season.
McCarthy is unlikely to run for statewide office in California, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 and haven’t won one since 2006. This is according to Jim Brulte, the former head of the California Republican Party.
It is thought that Kevin McCarthy, a former senior Republican in the Assembly and state Senate, would succeed in any field he chose to pursue. One of McCarthy’s greatest achievements, in Brulte’s opinion—having been the leading Republican in the Assembly and the state Senate—will be his ability to attract candidates.
McCarthy played a pivotal role in securing House majorities in 2010 and 2022 as the Republican Party’s principal candidate recruiter. Because McCarthy has stronger people and interpersonal skills than the majority of people he has ever encountered in politics, Brulte argues that this accounts for his recruiting prowess.
McCarthy intends to keep enlisting Republicans for public office and assisting business owners and daring individuals in realizing their dreams.
“While I will be departing the House at the end of this year, I will never, ever give up fighting for this country that I love so much,” said the former lawmaker in a video.
