Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he is resigning from Congress on Wednesday, two months after he became the first speaker in history to be removed by his colleagues—a decision that will leave Republicans with an even slimmer majority, at least temporarily, in the House.
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
McCarthy announced his resignation, without explanation, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday titled “I’m Leaving the House but Not the Fight.”
McCarthy said he would continue to be involved in politics by working to “recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office.”
Despite recent displays of disgust toward his colleagues who voted to remove him, McCarthy called himself an “optimist” and wrote that he “remained cheerfully persistent when elected speaker because I knew what we could accomplish.”
He insisted the House “did exactly what we said we would do” during his seven months as speaker and that he is leaving “knowing I left it all on the field—as always, with a smile on my face.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.