LOS ANGELES — 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.
FILE - Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and other House Republicans after Gaetz filed a motion to oust McCarthy from his leadership role, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. McCarthy says he's resigning from his congressional seat in California two months after his historic ouster as House speaker. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“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.
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.
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.
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These 8 Republicans stood apart to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker
Rep. Ken Buck
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REP. KEN BUCK
Buck is serving his fifth term representing a Colorado district that includes much of the eastern part of the state and some Denver suburbs. He's got a penchant for being a wildcard as a fiscal conservative, but also someone willing to push back against party leaders when he feels like it.
Most recently, Buck has spoken out against McCarthy's launch of an impeachment inquiry into Biden, saying that House Republicans itching for impeachment are relying on flimsy evidence.
He also has pointed to concerns about the process for approving spending and complained about stopgap spending bills like the one McCarthy came up with Saturday to keep the government running.
“We are $33 trillion in debt and on track to hit $50 trillion by 2030," he tweeted after the vote. "We cannot continue to fund the government by continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills. That’s why I voted to oust @SpeakerMcCarthy. We must change course to sensible budgeting and save our country.”
Rep. Tim Burchett
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REP. TIM BURCHETT
Burchett is serving his third term representing a district in east Tennessee. Burchett served 16 years in Tennessee’s legislature as well as eight years as a mayor before entering Congress.
He said while explaining his vote to oust McCarthy that the House took off the whole month of August despite knowing they needed to get the spending bills done before the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
“At some point, we've just got to say enough is enough, folks,” he said in a Twitter video. “I hate losing Kevin as a friend, but I worry about losing our country.”
Rep. Eli Crane
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REP. ELI CRANE
Crane represents an Arizona district. He is also a former Navy SEAL who served in the military for 13 years. In November, he defeated a Democratic incumbent, Tom O’Halleran, who had held the seat since 2017. He was the lone Republican freshman back in January to come out against McCarthy's bid to become speaker.
“Each time our majority has had the chance to fight for bold, lasting change for the American people, leadership folded and passed measures with more Democrat support than Republican,” Crane tweeted Tuesday.
Rep. Matt Gaetz
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REP. MATT GAETZ
Gaetz is serving his fourth term representing a Florida district. He is a close Trump ally who filed the motion to vacate the chair, the procedure used to oust McCarthy, and he led the debate on the House floor for those seeking to pass the motion.
He was also a holdout in January when McCarthy ran to become speaker. The defining moment during that showdown came when Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican ally of McCarthy, angrily confronted Gaetz on the House floor before being pulled back by a colleague.
Gaetz could face political repercussions for his actions, as many Republican lawmakers blame him for this week's chaos and view him as looking out for himself rather than for the good of the party.
“Look, you all know Matt Gaetz. You know it was personal. It had nothing to do about spending," McCarthy said. “It all was about getting attention from you. I mean we were getting e-mail fundraisers as he's doing it.”
Gaetz said McCarthy didn't follow through on many of the commitments he made to win the speaker's job, and that's what drove him.
“Kevin McCarthy is a feature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors,” Gaetz said. “We are breaking the fever now, and we should elect a speaker who’s better.”
Rep. Bob Good
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REP. BOB GOOD
Good of Virginia won office in 2020 after GOP voters ousted the Republican incumbent, Denver Riggleman, who had angered social conservatives by officiating a gay marriage.
Good said Tuesday that back in January he helped persuade a handful of colleagues to switch their votes to present so that McCarthy could become speaker.
But Good has been harshly critical of the deal to avoid a default and voiced alarm as Republicans prepared to ensure a partial government shutdown did not occur last weekend.
He said that if you're not willing to endure any kind of shutdown to get the changes you seek, “it’s a recipe to lose, it’s a recipe for surrender.”
“We need a speaker who will fight for something, anything, besides just staying or becoming speaker," Good said on the House floor Tuesday.
Rep. Nancy Mace
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REP. NANCY MACE
Mace is serving her second term representing a South Carolina district. She graduated from The Citadel, where she was the first female to graduate from its Corps of Cadets. She served as a state representative before coming to Congress.
Mace tweeted her vote to oust McCarthy wasn't about ideology. “This is about trust and keeping your word. This is about making Congress do its job," she said.
McCarthy said he called Mace's chief of staff on Monday saying he didn't understand how he had not kept his word. He noted that he had helped get Mace elected to Congress.
Rep. Matt Rosendale
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REP. MATT ROSENDALE
Rosendale is serving his second term in the House representing a Montana district. He's a hardliner on fiscal issues who also has voted against U.S. support for Ukraine in repelling Russia's invasion, citing what he said are more pressing security needs along the southern U.S. border.
“Our country is facing $33 trillion of debt. Our border is facing an unprecedented invasion. And instead of being energy dominant, we are now energy reliant. The House of Representatives and the American people deserve a leader who can challenge the status quo and put an end to this ruin," Rosendale said following Tuesday's vote.
