House Republicans reacted to news of former speaker Kevin McCarthy’s departure with a mixture of gratitude, regret, and a blunt acknowledgement that the House GOP’s already razor-thin majority is about to get even smaller.
McCarthy announced on Wednesday that he will step down from his seat at the end of this month and will not run for a tenth term in 2024, marking the end of the California Republican’s nearly two-decade long congressional career just two months after he was ousted from House GOP leadership.
“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” McCarthy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing his decision, adding: “I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office.”
A prolific fundraiser known for his ability to cultivate personal relationships, McCarthy’s departure will leave a hole in the center of the caucus.
“We could sure use his insight, we could sure use his help and his votes,” says freshman Representative Mike Collins (R., Ga.). “I just hate to see it.”
“Obviously we’d love to have him be here and not lose that seat,” says Mike Garcia (R., Calif.), adding that he doesn’t blame McCarthy for wanting to leave Congress given the circumstances. “It’s a solid red district luckily, so we’re not going to lose that seat. But we’re operating on razor thin margins right now.”
McCarthy’s announcement comes days after indicted former Representative George Santos’s expulsion from the lower chamber. Santos’s removal — the sixth expulsion in U.S. history — leaves Republicans with a 221-213 majority and a February 13 special election that’s expected to be competitive. And in another sign of the times, Representative Patrick McHenry (R., N.C.), chairman of the House Financial Services who served as speaker pro-tempore during the three-week period following McCarthy’s removal, announced on Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2024.
“God, gravity, indictments, and retirements can change the majority here every day, so we’ve got to be mindful of that,” Garcia said.
McCarthy’s decision to leave Congress marks the end of a long and ambitious political career that revolved around securing the speaker’s gavel and an embrace of former president Donald Trump. McCarthy spent years climbing the rungs of House GOP leadership, making his first campaign for the speakership in 2015, only to withdraw his name from consideration once it became clear he could not win support from his conservative detractors.
Nearly a decade later the stars finally aligned: After a 15-ballot floor fight in January defined by backroom deals with the rightmost wing of his conference, McCarthy finally won the speakership. But his short-lived tenure came crashing down in October, when a small faction of hard-right lawmakers unsatisfied with his leadership style banded with Democrats to oust him, ushering in a three-week period without a speaker. The House GOP then cycled through three nominees — House majority leader and longtime McCarthy adversary Steve Scalise, majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan — before eventually rallying behind Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson.
Even those who are optimistic about Johnson’s leadership say the House GOP will miss the California Republican’s dealmaking skills. “He was incredibly effective,” says Representative John Duarte (R., Calif.), a freshman swing-seat member and “longtime admirer” of McCarthy. “We passed great bipartisan legislation with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. It required compromise. And a few people in our party couldn’t deal with compromise. So it’s disappointing.”
But as McCarthy’s allies lament his departure, the eight Republicans who voted to oust him are no doubt taking a victory lap.
“I wish him well,” a smug Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), the architect of McCarthy’s ouster, told National Review Wednesday evening. “I hope he finds happiness.”