Kevin McCarthy

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. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California's 22nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013, followed by California's 23rd congressional district from 2013 to 2023, and finally California's 20th congressional district in 2023 before resigning from the House of Representatives the same year. Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, McCarthy graduated from the Bakersfield campus of California State University. He served two terms as a member of the California State Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House in 2006. McCarthy served as the House Republican chief deputy whip from 2009 to 2011 and as House majority whip from 2011 to 2014. After House majority leader Eric Cantor's reelection loss in the 2014 Republican primary, McCarthy was elected majority leader under Speaker John Boehner, a position he retained during Paul Ryan's speakership. In 2019, after Ryan retired, McCarthy was elected House Minority Leader. As Minority Leader, McCarthy supported Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud after Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and initially participated in efforts to overturn the results. After the U.S. Capitol was stormed during the 2021 electoral vote count, McCarthy reversed his previous comments on voter fraud in the election and blamed Trump for the riot. By 2022, he had publicly reconciled with Trump. McCarthy led the House Republicans through the 2022 elections, in which they gained a slimmer-than-expected majority. McCarthy was the Republican nominee for speaker in January 2023 but did not win the speakership on the first attempt, securing the office only after days of successive votes on a historic 15 different ballots as well as negotiations within his own party. During...