Kevin McCarthy (California politician)

Kevin McCarthy
House Majority Leader
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2014
Deputy	Steve Scalise
Preceded by	Eric Cantor
House Majority Whip
In office January 3, 2011 – August 1, 2014
Leader	Eric Cantor
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's 23rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Lois Capps
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 22nd district
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Bill Thomas
Succeeded by	Devin Nunes
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 Bakersfield, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Judy McCarthy
Children	Connor Meghan
Alma mater	California State University, Bakersfield
Religion	Southern Baptist
Website	House website Party website

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

Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician from Bakersfield, California. He serves in the United States House of Representatives for California's 23rd district, and as the House Majority Leader. A Republican, he was formerly chairman of the California Young Republicans and the Young Republican National Federation. McCarthy worked as district director for U.S. Representative Bill Thomas, and in 2000 was elected as a trustee to the Kern Community College District. He then served in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2006, the last two years as minority leader. When Thomas retired from the House of Representatives in 2006, McCarthy ran to succeed him and won the election. The 23rd district, numbered as the 22nd District from 2007 to 2013, is based in Bakersfield and includes large sections of Kern and Tulare counties as well as part of the Quartz Hill neighborhood in northwest Los Angeles County.

McCarthy was elected to House leadership as the Republican Chief Deputy Whip, from 2009 to 2011, and House Majority Whip, from 2011 until August 2014, when he was elected House Majority Leader to replace the outgoing Eric Cantor, who was defeated in his primary election.^[1][2] After announcing his candidacy for Speaker on September 28, 2015, he unexpectedly dropped out of the race on October 8.

Early life and education

McCarthy was born in Bakersfield, California, the son of Roberta (née Palladino), a homemaker, and Owen McCarthy, an assistant city fire chief.^[3][4] McCarthy is a fourth-generation resident of Kern County. He is the first Republican in his immediate family, as his parents were members of the Democratic Party.^[5][6] At the age of 19, he opened his first business, a delicatessen, after winning five thousand dollars with a lottery ticket.^[7] He subsequently sold the deli to attend California State University, Bakersfield,^[8] where he obtained a B.S. in marketing in 1989 and an M.B.A. in 1994.^[8]

Early political career

In 1995, he was chairman of the California Young Republicans. From 1999 to 2001, he was chairman of the Young Republican National Federation.^[6] From the late 1990s until 2000, he was district director for U.S. Representative Bill Thomas, who, at the time, chaired the House Ways and Means Committee.^[8] McCarthy won his first election in 2000, as a Kern Community College District trustee.^[8]

McCarthy was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002, becoming Republican floor leader during his freshman term in 2003.^[8] He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2006.^[9][8]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2006

McCarthy entered the Republican primary for California's 22nd District—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—after his former boss, Thomas, announced his retirement. He then won the general election with 70.7% of the vote.^[10][11]

2008

He ran unopposed.^[12]

2010

He was virtually unopposed, winning 98.8% of the vote, with opposition coming only from a write-in candidate.^[13]

2012

Redistricting before the 2012 election resulted in McCarthy's district being renumbered as the 23rd District. It became somewhat more compact, losing its share of the Central Coast while picking up large parts of Tulare County. This district was as heavily Republican as its predecessor, and McCarthy won a fourth term with 73.2% of the vote vs. 26.8% for independent, No Party Preference or NPP opponent, Terry Phillips.^[14]

2014

McCarthy won re-election to a fifth term in 2014 with 74.8% of the vote.^[15]

Tenure

He was a primary author of H.R. 1581^[16] Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011. It released wilderness study areas and forest service road-less areas administered and managed by the Bureau of Land Management from federal protection.^[16] It also attempted to undo the decades-old multiple use approach enshrined in the National Forest Management Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act, where wilderness is balanced with other public uses. Over 4 million acres in California alone would have been stripped of wilderness protection. The bill was widely opposed by environmentalists, as well as outdoor recreation advocates and businesses, and ultimately died in committee.^[17]

Committee assignments

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

Party leadership

• House Republican steering committee
• House Republican chief deputy whip, 2009–2011
• House majority whip, 2011–2014
• House majority leader, 2014–present

As a freshman congressman, McCarthy was appointed to the Republican steering committee. Republican leader John Boehner appointed him chairman 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.^[18]

After the 2008 elections, he was chosen as chief deputy minority whip, the highest-ranking appointed position in the House Republican caucus. His predecessor, Eric Cantor, was named minority whip. On November 17, 2010, he was selected by the House Republican caucus to be the House majority whip in the 112th Congress. In this post, he was the third-ranking House Republican, behind House speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor.

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 representatives Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling would challenge him, both dropped out leaving a clear path for McCarthy to become House majority leader.^[19] On June 13, representative Raul Labrador announced he would also seek the leadership position.^[20] On June 19, the Republican caucus elected McCarthy as majority leader.^[21][22]

According to the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, McCarthy is the least-tenured majority leader in the history of the House of Representatives. When he assumed the majority leadership position in July 2014, he had served only seven years, six months and 29 days, the least experience of any floor leader in the House's history by more than a year.^[23]

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.^[24]

Speaker of the House candidacy and withdrawal

On September 25, 2015, John Boehner announced his intention to resign as Speaker effective October 30, 2015. Many media outlets speculated that McCarthy would likely replace him,^[25][26] and Boehner himself stated that McCarthy "would make an excellent speaker."^[27] He was the presumptive successor to the outgoing Speaker.^[28] On Monday, September 28, McCarthy formally announced his candidacy.^[29] Having held congressional office for less than nine years, McCarthy would have been the Speaker with the least time in Congress since 1891.^[30]

On October 8, 2015, as Republicans were preparing to vote, McCarthy unexpectedly dropped out of the race, saying that Republicans needed a fresh face who could unite the caucus and "I am not that guy."^[31] He added that he would remain on as Majority Leader. He reportedly had concluded that he did not have the 218 votes that would be required to be elected Speaker.^[32] Previously, Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr. had sent a letter to the Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers stating that any candidates for a leadership position with "misdeeds" should withdraw from the race. Jones has stated that his comment did not specifically refer to McCarthy.^[33] However, it was widely seen as referring to rumors that McCarthy had been committing an extramarital affair with fellow Representative Renee Ellmers, a rumor that both have denied; the basis for such an allegation and interpretation is unclear.^{[34][35][36][37]}

Comments on House Select Committee on Benghazi

In a September 29, 2015, Fox TV interview with Sean Hannity, McCarthy talked about the House of Representatives' special panel investigation into the incident when Islamic militants attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi in 2012. Republicans had long maintained that the only purpose of the government-funded committee was to investigate the deaths of four Americans.^[38]

In the interview, McCarthy said, “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought.”^[39]

Many media outlets and Democratic lawmakers interpreted this comment as an admission that the investigation was a partisan political undertaking rather than a substantive inquiry.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Several days later, McCarthy followed up on his comments and said that "Benghazi is not political. It was created for one purpose and one purpose only — to find the truth on behalf of the families of four dead Americans. ... The integrity of Chairman Gowdy, the Committee and the work they've accomplished is beyond reproach. The serious questions Secretary Clinton faces are due entirely to her own decision to put classified information at risk and endanger our national security. ... I've been very clear about this. And don't use politics to try to change this around. I could have been more clear in my description of what was going forward."^[44]

Political positions

In 2010 McCarthy signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any climate change legislation that would raise taxes on affected companies.^[45]

McCarthy does not support renewing the charter of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., as he expects the private sector to take over the role.^[46]

McCarthy is pro-life and has received a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee. He has voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to ban abortions, to stop perceived taxpayer funding of abortion and has also voted repeatedly to repeal and/or defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.^[47]

Personal life

McCarthy and his wife Judy have two children. They are lifelong residents of Bakersfield.^[8] He has been a board member for the Community Action Partnership of Kern.^[48]

References

External links

• Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
• Congressman Kevin McCarthy official U.S. House site
• Kevin McCarthy for Congress
• Kevin McCarthy at DMOZ
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress

Republican Party Leaders in the United States House of Representatives Payne Mann Mondell Longworth Tilson Snell Martin Halleck Martin Halleck Martin Halleck Ford Rhodes Michel Armey DeLay Blunti Boehner Cantor McCarthy (i) - interim

Majority leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Payne Underwood Kitchin Mondell Longworth Tilson Rainey Byrns Bankhead Rayburn McCormack Halleck McCormack Halleck McCormack Albert Boggs O'Neill Wright Foley Gephardt Armey DeLay Blunt (acting) Boehner Hoyer Cantor McCarthy

Majority Whips of the U.S. House of Representatives Tawney Watson Dwight Bell Knutson Vestal McDuffie Greenwood Boland Ramspeck Sparkman Arends Priest Arends Albert Boggs O'Neill McFall Brademas Foley Coelho Gray Bonior DeLay Blunt Clyburn McCarthy Scalise

Republican Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney Watson Dwight Burke Hamilton Knutson Vestal Bachmann Englebright Arends Michel Lott Cheney Gingrich DeLay Blunt Cantor McCarthy Scalise