Following his loss of the House speakership, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) floated the possibility that he may not run for reelection in 2024.
McCarthy was demoted to the rank-and-file House GOP last month when he was ousted from the speakership. With his successor now firmly in place, McCarthy is toying with the idea that his time in Congress may be up.
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“I got the holidays. I will talk to my family about the ideas of what is going forward, and then I will make a decision,” McCarthy told CNN’s Manu Raju in an interview.
New — Kevin McCarthy unplugged.
On the eight Republicans: “I don’t believe them to be conservatives.”
On Gaetz ethics probe: “He would throw his country away to try to protect himself from what would come out as the truth.”
Also: McCarthy UNDECIDED about staying in House pic.twitter.com/6Pk833pv4v
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 12, 2023
“I always believe, and you hear me all of the time. You never give up in the process, right? Well, there’s so many ways you can do that to make sure you’re getting the job done,” he said. “And I’m going to look at all options.”
When pressed on which way he was leaning, McCarthy said he didn’t know.
The interview also saw McCarthy lash out against the eight House Republicans who voted to oust him as House speaker, saying that they weren’t conservatives. He took aim at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) specifically, who led the effort to unseat him.
“It’s driven by Gaetz, and it was all based upon an ethics complaint that happened in the last Congress. He would throw his country away to try to protect himself for what would come out as the truth,” McCarthy said.
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Gaetz laughed off the comments, telling CNN, “Thoughts and prayers to the former speaker as he works through his grief.”
McCarthy’s comments come after he said in October that he still planned to run for his California House seat.