65 Facts About Kevin McCarthy

Kevin Owen McCarthy was born on January 26,1965 and is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January to October 2023.

Kevin McCarthy served two terms as a member of the California State Assembly before being elected to the US House in 2006.

In 2019, after Ryan retired, Kevin McCarthy was elected House Minority Leader.

Kevin McCarthy led the House Republicans through the 2022 elections, in which they gained a slimmer-than-expected majority.

Kevin McCarthy was the Republican nominee for speaker in January 2023, but did not win the speakership on the first attempt, only securing the office after days of successive votes and negotiations within his own party as well as a historic 15 different ballots.

In September 2023, Kevin McCarthy relied on Democrats to help pass a bipartisan continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown.

Kevin McCarthy's 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.

Kevin McCarthy resigned as a member of the House at the end of that year.

Kevin McCarthy was born on January 26,1965, in Bakersfield, California.

Kevin McCarthy is the son of Owen McCarthy an assistant city fire chief, and Roberta Darlene, a homemaker.

Kevin McCarthy is the first Republican in his immediate family, as his parents were members of the Democratic Party.

Kevin McCarthy attended Bakersfield High School, where he played on the football team, from 1979 to 1983.

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

Kevin McCarthy was able to finance this business after winning $5,000 in the California State Lottery and subsequently investing these winnings in the stock market.

Kevin 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.

Kevin McCarthy served on the staff of Congressman Bill Thomas from 1987 to 2002.

Kevin McCarthy won his first election in 2000, as a Kern Community College District trustee.

Kevin McCarthy was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002.

In 2006, Kevin McCarthy was first elected to the United States House of Representatives as a representative for California's 22nd district.

Kevin McCarthy succeeded his former boss, Bill Thomas, who retired.

Kevin McCarthy was one of the three founding members of the GOP Young Guns Program.

Kevin McCarthy helped recruit candidates associated with the Tea Party movement in the 2010 US House elections.

On November 17,2010, the House Republican Conference selected Kevin McCarthy to be the House majority whip in the 112th Congress.

In 2012, Kevin 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.

Kevin McCarthy sought to succeed Cantor, and after some speculation that Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling would challenge him, both dropped out, leaving Kevin McCarthy a clear path to become majority leader.

Kevin McCarthy kept four of his predecessor's staff members on his staff when he took over as majority leader, including deputy chief of staff Neil Bradley, who now has served in that role for three majority leaders.

Kevin McCarthy has been under fire for avoiding meetings and town-hall events with constituents in his congressional district for years.

In December 2017, Kevin McCarthy voted for the House Republican tax legislation.

The work was mostly for construction projects at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield-based district, and Naval Air Station Lemoore in California's Kings County.

Kevin McCarthy replied by talking about the House of Representatives' special panel investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack.

Several days later, Kevin McCarthy apologized for the remarks and said the Benghazi panel was not a political initiative.

The Benghazi gaffe contributed to his decision to withdraw from the race, as Kevin McCarthy acknowledged in announcing his withdrawal.

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

Kevin McCarthy did not take steps to thwart Greene's candidacy and did not endorse her opponent in the Republican primary runoff election.

In 2020, Kevin McCarthy was asked about Trump's false claims that Joe Scarborough was linked to the death of a staff member; a few House Republicans criticized Trump for making inflammatory and false statements, but Kevin McCarthy declined to take a position.

In December 2020, McCarthy was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

In March 2021, McCarthy denied he had supported Trump's false claims of election fraud, despite having supported Texas v Pennsylvania.

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

Kevin McCarthy later denied that this was a vote to overturn the election, because Biden would still have won without those two states.

Kevin McCarthy emphasized that Trump failed to intervene after the initial TV footage, showing the demonstration evolving in a violent assault.

Kevin McCarthy later said that he did not believe Trump had provoked the mob.

In October 2021, Kevin McCarthy pressured Republican political consultants not to work with Cheney or else lose business with other Republicans.

On May 18,2021, Kevin McCarthy announced that he opposed the bipartisan agreement in the House to form an independent commission to investigate the Capitol attack.

Kevin McCarthy had asked Representative John Katko, a member of his whip team, to negotiate with Democrats on the caucus's behalf about the commission.

Kevin McCarthy specified to Katko what he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted, and got almost everything he asked for.

Kevin McCarthy said that the scope of any investigation should include other events of political violence, which was possible with the terms negotiated.

Kevin McCarthy sided with other Republicans who sought to downplay the matter and move on.

In June 2021, after Pelosi announced the creation of a select committee to investigate the Capitol attack that would include five Republican members, Kevin McCarthy threatened to remove Republicans from committee assignments if they participated.

Kevin McCarthy did not specify which law the companies would break in this situation.

On November 18,2021, and into the early morning of November 19, Kevin McCarthy gave a record-breaking 8.5-hour speech on the House floor using the "magic minute", forcing a delay in the final vote on the Build Back Better Act.

At the start of the 118th Congress on January 3,2023, Kevin McCarthy failed to secure a majority of votes cast on the first ballot, with all Democrats and 19 Republicans opposing him.

In February 2023, Kevin McCarthy released over 40,000 hours of security video of the January 6 Capitol attack to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, prompting criticism from colleagues such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

In March 2023, Kevin McCarthy announced he had planned a meeting with the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, in the US He initially declined an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit Ukraine, saying he opposed giving "blank checks" to Ukraine and did not need to visit Ukraine to know whether the money was necessary.

In May 2023, amid a debt-ceiling crisis, Kevin McCarthy worked closely with President Biden to resolve the issue.

Kevin McCarthy negotiated the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 that was introduced by Republican representative Patrick McHenry, and it passed the House on May 31 and the Senate on June 1.

Kevin McCarthy has urged Biden to withdraw the nomination of Julie Su as United States secretary of labor, arguing her controversial record would lead to "potential disastrous ramifications at the federal level".

Kevin McCarthy has expressed support for a proposal to "expunge" both of President Trump's impeachments.

On September 1,2023, Kevin 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.

Kevin McCarthy did not say whether a full House vote might be held.

Kevin 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.

Kevin McCarthy told the media, "Democrats tried to do everything they can not to let [the bill] pass".

Voting to remove Kevin McCarthy were all House Democrats and eight House Republicans: Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale.

On December 6,2023, Kevin McCarthy announced that he would resign from Congress on December 31.

In October 2015, Kevin McCarthy was accused of having an affair with Representative Renee Ellmers.

Kevin McCarthy had unexpectedly dropped out of the race for speaker of the House shortly before the allegations surfaced.