10 Things You Should Know About Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy who took on a new role as the House Majority Leader just a few months ago in August is now looking at another promotion: to Speaker of the House.
The departure of John Boehner is being interpreted by many commentators as a sign of the times–if Boehner can’t corral the radicalized elements in the Republican party who can?
Most commentators assume that Kevin McCarthy will replace John Boehner, though this outcome is not absolutely certain according to Breitbart and other voices of the ultra-right. Regardless of whether he is ratified as Speaker of the House, McCarthy is an important political figure in the fractured landscape of Washington in 2015. So who is he?
1. As stated, Kevin McCarthy is Boehner’s heir apparent in the important political role of Speaker of the House.
2. He served as a member of Congress in the U.S. House from 2007 to present. He has been a member of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services from 2011 to present.
3. Kevin McCarthy leans left of his party and slightly left of his predecessor, John Boehner.
4. His only tweet in the past six months was a strong call to oppose the Iran Nuclear Deal.
The Iran Deal must be opposed. It is a bad deal for America and our allies. pic.twitter.com/38bEsF3hwF
— Kevin McCarthy (@kevinomccarthy) September 9, 2015
5. Apparently he’s not that big on free-trade.
His record on free-market, free-trade, anti-regulation issues received one of the lowest scores among his Republican colleagues, according to the Club for Growth.
According to Politico, “The Club for Growth is the pre-eminent institution promoting Republican adherence to a free-market, free-trade, anti-regulation agenda.”
Club For Growth gave Kevin McCarthy a failing grade on his scorecard last year: 43 percent. His lifetime score is 6% less than the party average (73 percent vs. 79 percent) and his score last year was 26 percent lower than the Republican party’s average score for that year (43 percent v. 69 percent). His score has fallen considerably every year for the past four years.
6. His donors are very rich. The vast majority of his money comes from donors contributing in excess of $2,500.
In other words, Kevin McCarthy has almost solely institutional donors (since the maximum amount that an individual donor can give is $2,600).
Primary donors include Big Finance, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, and a Super PAC that seems purposely designed to filter dark money into the political process, decoupling the names of donors from their cash.
7. Won the lottery and opened a deli?
Before he was old enough, McCarthy hit the jackpot for $5,000 in the California lottery. He used his winning to capitalize a deli, which he built with his father in their garage. McCarthy sold the deli in 1987.
8. Kevin Spacey shadowed McCarthy to prep for his role in House of Cards.
While preparing to play Francis Underwood for his role as House majority whip, Spacey spent time shadowing real-life House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., learning firsthand the challenge of getting members of Congress in line on legislation.
Spacey later explained to ABC News that McCarthy was “very generous” to him. They’re friends now — at least that’s what folks in Washington seem to think. Spacey noted that, having shadowed McCarthy, he no longer thought that the plotlines developing in House of Cards were all that unrealistic.
According to the Huffington Post, “After watching McCarthy ‘harangue 218 congressman,’ Spacey said he didn’t envy the position. Underwood’s office, before he graduated to the Oval Office, was modeled after McCarthy’s.”
9. He might have owned a Delorean in the 1980s?
https://instagram.com/p/4EbHuPFcwv/
10. He helped Kate Upton celebrate her 21st birthday.
https://instagram.com/p/aZVVOqFc-K/
