Ex-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to leave Congress

Ousted U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday that he will leave Congress at the end of this year, a move that raised anxieties among his fellow Republicans about the path that lies ahead for their narrow and fractious majority.

His move came as Congress struggles to move forward on a raft of critically important legislation, including fiscal 2024 spending bills that Congress must adopt by Jan. 19 to avert a partial government shutdown.

The task poses a new and perilous test for McCarthy’s successor, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Christian conservative with relatively little leadership experience who won the gavel after weeks of bitter Republican infighting.

“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy, 58, wrote in a Wall Street Journal column. “It often seems that the more Washington does, the worse America gets,” said McCarthy, who was ousted as speaker by hardline Republicans in early October.

The departure of the former party leader and campaign fundraising juggernaut, who helped Republicans take control of the House in 2022, could hamper party hopes of retaining that majority next year.

While he represents a safely Republican California district, his departure will further narrow Republicans’ already slim 221-213 majority early next year as Congress tries to avert a partial government shutdown in mid-January.

Under California law, a special election must take place within 126 to 140 days from the time the state’s governor calls one.

McCarthy is the latest of several House Republican departures that could reduce Republicans to only a one-seat margin for passing legislation in early 2024.

Representative Mike Simpson, an establishment Republican, said McCarthy’s announcement “absolutely” underscored the difficulty of governing the Republican majority.