Kevin McCarthy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kevin McCarthy
Official portrait, 2023
55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office January 7, 2023 – October 3, 2023
Preceded by	Nancy Pelosi
Succeeded by	Mike Johnson
House positions House Minority Leader In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 Whip Steve Scalise Preceded by Nancy Pelosi Succeeded by Hakeem Jeffries Leader of the House Republican Conference In office January 3, 2019 – October 3, 2023 Deputy Steve Scalise Preceded by Paul Ryan Succeeded by Mike Johnson House Majority Leader In office August 1, 2014 – January 3, 2019 Speaker John Boehner Paul Ryan Preceded by Eric Cantor Succeeded by Steny Hoyer House Majority Whip In office January 3, 2011 – August 1, 2014 Speaker John Boehner Preceded by Jim Clyburn Succeeded by Steve Scalise House Republican Chief Deputy Whip In office January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011 Leader John Boehner Preceded by Eric Cantor Succeeded by Peter Roskam
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California
In office January 3, 2007 – December 31, 2023
Preceded by	Bill Thomas
Succeeded by	Vince Fong
Constituency	22nd district (2007–2013) 23rd district (2013–2023) 20th district (2023)
Minority Leader of the California Assembly
In office January 5, 2004 – April 17, 2006
Preceded by	Dave Cox
Succeeded by	George Plescia
Member of the California State Assembly from the 32nd district
In office December 2, 2002 – November 30, 2006
Preceded by	Roy Ashburn
Succeeded by	Jean Fuller
Personal details
Born	Kevin Owen McCarthy (1965-01-26) January 26, 1965 (age 60) Bakersfield, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Judy Wages ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	2
Education	California State University, Bakersfield (BS, MBA)
Signature

Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January to October 2023. His tenure was the third-shortest for a Speaker of the House in United States history, and he became the first speaker to ever be removed from the role during a legislative session. McCarthy resigned as a member of the House at the end of that year.

Early life and education

McCarthy was born on January 26, 1965, in Bakersfield, California. He is the son of Roberta Darlene (née Palladino), a homemaker, and Owen McCarthy, an assistant city fire chief. McCarthy is a fourth-generation resident of Kern County. His maternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant, and his paternal grandfather was Irish. McCarthy is the first Republican in his immediate family, as his parents were members of the Democratic Party. He attended Bakersfield High School, where he played on the football team, from 1979 to 1983.

In 1984, at age 19, McCarthy ran his first business selling sandwiches out of the back of his uncle's yogurt shop on Stine Road.

McCarthy attended California State University, Bakersfield, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in marketing in 1989 and a Master of Business Administration in 1994. During college, he worked as a seasonal firefighter for the Kern County Fire Department.

Early political career

McCarthy served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas from 1987 to 2002. In 1995, he chaired the California Young Republicans. From 1999 to 2001, he chaired the Young Republican National Federation. From the late 1990s until 2000, he was Thomas's district director. McCarthy won his first election in 2000, as a Kern Community College District trustee. Thomas has since criticized McCarthy in numerous interviews.

McCarthy was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002. He became the Republican floor leader in 2003. In 2006, McCarthy was first elected to the United States House of Representatives as a representative for California's 22nd district. He succeeded his former boss, Bill Thomas, who retired. The district was renumbered as the 23rd district in 2013, and again as the 20th district in 2023.

U.S. House of Representatives

2007

2012

2016

2019

Portraits of Kevin McCarthy as a Member of the House.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Western Caucus

Party leadership

• House Republican steering committee
• House Republican Chief Deputy Whip, 2009–2011
• House Majority Whip, 2011–2014
• House Majority Leader, 2014–2019
• House Minority Leader, 2019–2023
• Speaker of the House, January to October 2023

Early leadership posts

Representative McCarthy at an oversight hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power

As a freshman congressman, McCarthy was appointed to the Republican Steering committee. Republican leader John Boehner appointed him chair of the Republican platform committee during the committee's meetings in Minneapolis in August 2008, which produced the Republican Party Platform for 2008. He was also one of the three founding members of the GOP Young Guns Program. After the 2008 elections, he was chosen as chief deputy minority whip, the highest-ranking appointed position in the House Republican Conference. His predecessor, Eric Cantor, was named minority whip.

House majority whip

On November 17, 2010, the House Republican Conference selected McCarthy to be the House majority whip in the 112th Congress. In this post, he was the third-ranking House Republican, behind Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor.

In 2012, McCarthy's office reported spending $99,000 on pastries, bottled water, and other food items, making him the highest-spending member of the House in this category.

House majority leader

Norman L. Eisen, Condoleezza Rice and McCarthy in Prague, Czech Republic, 2011

Cantor lost the June 2014 primary for his seat in Congress, and announced he would step down from House leadership at the end of July. McCarthy sought to succeed Cantor, and after some speculation that Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling would challenge him, both dropped out, leaving McCarthy a clear path to become majority leader. On June 13, representative Raul Labrador announced he would also seek the leadership position. On June 19, the Republican Conference elected McCarthy majority leader.

House minority leader

Kevin McCarthy as House Minority Leader, 2019

After the Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 elections, McCarthy was elected Minority Leader, fending off a challenge to his right from Jim Jordan of Ohio, 159–43. While as majority leader he had been the second-ranking House Republican behind Ryan, as minority leader he was now the leader of the House Republicans.

McCarthy has been a strong supporter of Donald Trump since 2016.

McCarthy with other congressional leaders in January 2020

In November 2020, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, McCarthy insisted on Laura Ingraham's television show that "President Trump won this election"—echoing Trump's own claim—even as vote-counting was ongoing in several states and no winner had yet been declared. McCarthy insinuated that large-scale voter fraud would lead Trump to lose, saying "Everyone who is listening: Do not be quiet. Do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes."

On January 6, 2021, hours after the attack on the Capitol, McCarthy voted against certifying Biden's win in two states.

During a January 8 conference call with other House Republican leaders, McCarthy said that Trump's conduct during the Capitol riot was "atrocious and totally wrong" and that he was "inciting people" to attack the Capitol, and briefly inquired about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. On a January 10 conference call with Republican leaders, McCarthy said he would ask Trump to resign rather than go through a long impeachment battle. But after weak House Republican support for Trump's second impeachment, fearing retribution from Trump and his allies, McCarthy backed off from this stance.

A week after the attack, McCarthy delivered a speech in which he held Trump partially responsible for the riots. He emphasized that Trump failed to intervene after the initial TV footage, showing the demonstration evolving in a violent assault. He later said that he did not believe Trump had provoked the mob.

McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in May 2021.

Speaker of the House

Nomination

McCarthy holds the gavel following his election as Speaker of the House.

As minority leader, McCarthy led Republicans in the 2022 election cycle. Many party officials and political pundits predicted Republicans would make large gains in the House. In the elections, Republicans gained a majority, continuing the decades-long trend of the incumbent president's party losing a House majority in their midterm elections. This also marked the first time since the 115th Congress that Republicans held a majority. But Republicans did not fulfill widespread predictions of large gains, as their majority was narrow. McCarthy won an internal Republican conference vote in early November, with 188 votes to Andy Biggs's 31, but some members of the conference continued to oppose his bid for speaker.

At the start of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023, McCarthy failed to secure a majority of votes cast on the first ballot, with all Democrats and 19 Republicans opposing him. This marked the first time since the December 1923 speaker election that the first ballot did not produce a speaker. McCarthy finally received a majority and became speaker on the 15th ballot on January 7, after making key concessions to some members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, including a rule to allow a single House member to introduce a vote to remove the speaker, as well as granting Freedom Caucus members three seats on the influential Rules Committee. Additionally, it was the longest multi-ballot speaker election since 1859.

Tenure

Speaker McCarthy greets U.S. President Joe Biden before the 2023 State of the Union Address.

Speaker McCarthy meets with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, April 5, 2023.

McCarthy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 1, 2023

McCarthy has urged Biden to withdraw the nomination of Julie Su as United States secretary of labor.

Amid allegations of corruption by President Joe Biden, many Republicans called for his impeachment. On September 1, 2023, McCarthy said that he would not initiate an impeachment inquiry without a full House vote, though it appeared he did not have sufficient Republican support to pass such a measure. On September 12, he announced that he was directing the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees to begin an impeachment inquiry, to be led by James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee. He did not say whether a full House vote might be held. McCarthy asserted that, over his objections, former speaker Nancy Pelosi had changed the process when Democrats pursued the first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019, so that he was following what she had done. In 2019, Democrats conducted a five-week investigation before holding a full House vote to approve an impeachment inquiry.

The impeachment allegations coincided with rising fears of a federal government shutdown, as McCarthy's concessions to Biden infuriated members of the Freedom Caucus, who called for less spending. The Freedom Caucus's cause was echoed by various politicians outside the House, notably including Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Amid the Republican infighting and in a push to halt legislators' pay during shutdowns, Representative Angie Craig introduced the MCCARTHY (My Constituents Cannot Afford Rebellious Tantrums, Handle Your) Shutdown Act.

Removal

McCarthy attending the 2024 Republican National Convention

On September 29, 2023, McCarthy's bill to fund the federal government, featuring large government spending cuts and strict border policies, failed to pass the House after Democrats and 21 House Republicans refused to support it; if no funding bill was passed, a government shutdown would occur on October 1, 2023. On September 30, McCarthy introduced a temporary funding bill without the large government spending cuts, but also without Ukraine funding; this bill passed in the House with 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans in favour, whereas 1 Democrat and 90 Republicans objected. The government shutdown was then prevented as the Senate and President Joe Biden approved McCarthy's funding bill. McCarthy then told the media that "Democrats tried to do everything they can not to let [my government funding bill] pass".

After funding the government with Democratic support, McCarthy said: "If somebody wants to remove me because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try". On October 3, 2023, Republican congressman Matt Gaetz filed a motion to vacate the chair over frustrations of McCarthy's working on a bipartisan deal. The vote passed with 216 in favor and 210 opposed, removing McCarthy from his role as Speaker of the House. This was the first time in the history of the United States that the House of Representatives had removed its speaker from office. Among those who voted to remove McCarthy were eight House Republicans: Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale. After the vote, McCarthy announced that he would not seek the speakership again.

Post-speakership and resignation from Congress

McCarthy resigned from Congress later that year. After his ouster, he continues to be a major fundraiser, assisting Speaker Mike Johnson with campaign finance via his SuperPAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund.

Personal life

McCarthy and his wife Judy with their children during the 110th Congressional swearing in

McCarthy and his wife, Judy, have two children. They are lifelong residents of Bakersfield. He and his family are Baptists and members of the Southern Baptist Convention.

See also

In Spanish: Kevin McCarthy (político) para niños