WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defeated his Democratic challenger late Tuesday, securing a ninth term in Congress and putting him on track to become Speaker of the House of Representatives if Republicans claim a majority of the chamber’s seats.
McCarthy had 63.3% of the vote in California’s 20th Congressional District when the Associated Press called the race. His challenger, school teacher Marisa Wood, had 36.7%. Less than 31% of the vote had been counted.
Republicans are predicted to gain enough seats to take control of the House in 2023, but not by an overwhelming margin as some analysts had predicted before Tuesday. Still, that’s enough to hand McCarthy the gavel.
Guests at the “Take Back the House” watch party in Washington, D.C., cheered “speaker” at 2 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday after the Bakersfield Republican took the microphone for a quick speech.
McCarthy told a room of supporters that the GOP-led House would put the country in “a new direction”: for a place where the “economy is strong,” where there is “a future that’s built on freedom” and “a government that is accountable.”
“Our work begins now,” McCarthy said. “Let’s get America back on track.”
McCarthy’s Republican rise
McCarthy won election in California’s new 20th Congressional District.
The 20th is the Central Valley’s most oddly shaped, a product of redrawn legislative lines based on 2020 census data. It captures Millerton and Clovis in its top arm and extends out to Lemoore in a second arm. It then runs south to Rosamond and stretches west to take Maricopa and half of Bakersfield in a third arm. Clovis and a small chunk of Fresno around Fresno State also fall in the district.
McCarthy has never had a close congressional election.
The 57-year-old joined the House in 2007, quickly rising to the GOP’s third-in-command as majority whip in 2011. He became the majority leader in 2014 and held the role until Democrats took control of the House in 2019. He is the first California Republican to be House minority leader.
Before entering Congress, McCarthy was minority leader of the California State Assembly for two years. He was elected to the Assembly in 2002.
McCarthy won his first election in 2000 to become a Kern Community College District trustee. He worked for his congressional predecessor, Rep. Bill Thomas, from 1987 to 2002.
The Bakersfield native is a fourth-generation resident of Kern County.
Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump
McCarthy became a fast supporter of President Donald Trump. He kept the House GOP unified against impeachment over Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
He made false claims that victory in the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, and he was one of 126 House Republicans who signed an amicus brief in a Texas lawsuit that contested President Joe Biden’s win.
Following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, McCarthy voted against certifying Biden’s win in two states.
On Jan. 8, McCarthy condemned the violence and, in private conversations with Republican lawmakers, blasted Trump for “inciting people” to go to the Capitol. He recognized Biden was president-elect.
He did not vote to impeach Trump over Jan. 6, even though private conversations caught on tape revealed McCarthy saying he wanted the former president to resign. Fearing political retribution, per reports, the House Minority Leader backed off from the hard-line approach of blaming Trump.
By March 2021, after meeting with Biden, McCarthy denied 2020 fraud claims, saying, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.”
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