Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy announced this evening (Wednesday) that he will retire from the US Congress at the end of the calendar year, after serving as a member of the lower house of Congress since 2007 for 10 terms. His announcement comes after he was ousted from the leadership of the House of Representatives last October following the opposition of members of his party for his cooperation with Democratic legislators.
"I have decided to leave the House of Representatives at the end of 2023 to serve America in new ways," McCarthy wrote in a column he published in the "Wall Street Journal". "I will continue to work to recruit the best of our citizens, turn them into elected officials, and raise the next generation of the country's leaders. I am sure that my work is just beginning."
As mentioned, McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives last January, but was removed from the post after members of the extreme wing of the Republican Party objected to his cooperating with Democratic lawmakers to reach agreements on the state budget and prevent a government shutdown. His historic removal led to weeks of chaos in the House of Representatives after the Republicans could not choose an agreed candidate to replace McCarthy, and only after about three weeks Mike Johnson was elected as the new chairman.
McCarthy himself made it clear in a statement to the media that he does not regret the move he made, even though it led to his dismissal - but stated that he will not run for another term in the next election. McCarthy's term was supposed to end in January 2025, but he has now decided to retire a year earlier.