Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives late Friday/Saturday, ending a process marked by significant tensions and divisions within the Republican Party. McCarthy is an American politician from the Republican Party, born on January 26, 1965, in Bakersfield, California. He completed his business administration studies at California State University. He was first elected as a congressman in 2007, and in 2019, he became the Republican minority leader in the House.
McCarthy previously chaired the California Young Republicans organization and the National Young Republicans Federation. He served as a representative in the California Assembly from 2002 to 2006, and in the last two years, he worked as the Republican minority leader in the House. He was elected to Congress in 2007 and served as the Deputy Republican Speaker from 2009 to 2011. When the Republicans gained control of the House in 2011, he became the majority whip from 2011 until August 2014, when he was elected majority leader to replace Eric Cantor, who lost his primary election.
After the Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 midterm elections and Speaker Paul Ryan retired, McCarthy was elected minority leader in January 2019, making him the first Republican from California to hold this position. McCarthy was a steadfast supporter of Donald Trump during most of his time as majority and minority leader. After Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election, McCarthy endorsed Trump's stance of denying Biden's win and participated in legal efforts to overturn the results. However, McCarthy later condemned the Capitol riot by Trump supporters in 2021.
