Kevin McCarthy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kevin McCarthy
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Official portrait, 2023
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| 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office January 7, 2023 – October 3, 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Nancy Pelosi |
| Succeeded by | Mike Johnson |
| House Minority Leader | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 |
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| 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 |
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| Deputy | Steve Scalise |
| Preceded by | Paul Ryan |
| Succeeded by | Mike Johnson |
| House Majority Leader | |
| In office August 1, 2014 – January 3, 2019 |
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| Speaker | John Boehner Paul Ryan |
| Preceded by | Eric Cantor |
| Succeeded by | Steny Hoyer |
| House Majority Whip | |
| In office January 3, 2011 – August 1, 2014 |
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| Speaker | John Boehner |
| Preceded by | Jim Clyburn |
| Succeeded by | Steve Scalise |
| House Republican Chief Deputy Whip | |
| In office January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011 |
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| Leader | John Boehner |
| Preceded by | Eric Cantor |
| Succeeded by | Peter Roskam |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California |
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| In office January 3, 2007 – December 31, 2023 |
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| 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 |
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| Preceded by | Dave Cox |
| Succeeded by | George Plescia |
| Member of the California State Assembly from the 32nd district |
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| In office December 2, 2002 – November 30, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Roy Ashburn |
| Succeeded by | Jean Fuller |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kevin Owen McCarthy
January 26, 1965 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.
Contents
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
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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
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
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
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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.
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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.
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Speaker of the House
Nomination
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
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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
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.
McCarthy resigned from Congress later that year.
Personal life
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
