Just as 81 year old Biden is still considering whether to seek re-election next year, 58 year old veteran Republican politician and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has announced his early retirement from Congress.
On Wednesday local time, McCarthy published a signed article in local media titled "Kevin McCarthy: I Want to Leave the House of Representatives, Still Struggling", announcing that he will leave the United States House of Representatives by the end of this year. This also marks the end of his parliamentary career that began in 2007.
McCarthy also posted a farewell video on personal social media, and after reviewing his achievements during his tenure, he said, "Now is the time to pursue passion in a new field.".
Not without warning
In the past decade, McCarthy has gone through all the leadership positions that American congressmen can hold - including Republican Whip, House Majority Leader, Minority Leader, and Speaker of the House who briefly served for nine months this year. He was also the first incumbent Speaker of the House to be voted out of office in American history.
In January of this year, after a full 15 rounds of elections, McCarthy finally swung the small mallet symbolizing his position as Speaker.
However, as he worked with Democrats at the end of September this year to avoid a shutdown of the US government, the conservative "Liberal Party" in the Republican Party immediately challenged him. With the support of Democrats and 8 Republican lawmakers, the proposal to dismiss McCarthy was passed by a narrow margin of 216 votes to 210.
Since being dismissed in early October, there have been rumors circulating that McCarthy may resign after suffering significant setbacks. For this speculation, McCarthy initially avoided answering relevant questions and later expressed his desire to seek re-election in next year's elections. But before the registration deadline for California candidates this week, he still announced his early resignation.
According to the invitation letter seen by the media, House Republicans plan to hold a party for McCarthy next week. The event was planned before he announced his resignation. A person familiar with the planning said that Republicans do not expect him to pursue re-election and hope to thank McCarthy and see him off by organizing a party.
What will be done next?
Although McCarthy stated that he would "move into a new field," he did not clearly state what he was going to do next.
However, in the signed article, he stated that he will continue to recruit the best and smartest people in the United States to participate in elections and is committed to providing his experience to the next generation of leaders.
Media analysis suggests that McCarthy may go all out to crack down on the Republican lawmakers who ousted him in the upcoming election cycle, especially the leading figure, Matt Gates II. In addition, McCarthy seems to have revealed his intention to enter the venture capital circle. He self deprecatingly stated in the article that "the more politicians in Washington do, the more miserable America becomes.". He looks forward to helping entrepreneurs and those willing to take risks realize their full potential, and states that the challenges currently facing the United States are more likely to be addressed through innovation rather than legislation.
The Republican Party's lead in the House of Representatives is getting smaller and smaller
In addition to McCarthy, there are three seats in the United States House of Representatives that are about to face special elections, including outgoing Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins and Republican Congressman Bill Johnson, as well as Republican Congressman Santos who was just fired from Congress last week.
This also means that the Republican Party already had a lead of only 8 votes (221 against 213), and now there are 3 seats facing uncertainty.
For the current situation, Republican congressman Taylor Green, who supports McCarthy, also stated on social media that the Republican lead will drop to one seat by 2024. Green also bluntly expressed his hope that no one in the Republican Party would die.
According to election rules, if McCarthy waits as expected after 5pm this Friday before submitting his resignation, California Governor Newson will have the right to choose to hold a special election or simply leave the seat vacant. He chose the latter after the resignation of Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter in 2020. If McCarthy resigns before Friday's deadline, Newson will have to hold a special election.