WASHINGTON—Mainstream lawmakers saw Kevin McCarthy as an honest broker in ragged times. Those farther on the right worried that, as House speaker, he might obstruct their obstructionism.
People from all sides seemed to think they were dealing with an open book.
But McCarthy’s sudden withdrawal from the contest for speaker Thursday stunned apparently everyone in the political establishment.
They searched for answers about a man they thought of as a straight-up deal-maker with a personal touch that goes beyond the artificial, backslapping ways of Washington.
For while nice guys don’t always finish first, it’s not every day they take themselves out of the race, just strides from victory.
McCarthy, 50, would have been the least-experienced speaker since 1891 if he'd dug in for Thursday’s secret Republican ballot, then got elected in an Oct. 29 open vote of the full House.
McCarthy turned his office, with its powerful, over-sized Steve Penley paintings of Lincoln, Washington crossing the Delaware and Ronald Reagan, into a clubhouse of sorts for House Republicans.
There were formal “listening sessions” where legislators could delve into big topics like the budget or the debt limit.
Candid photos of GOP legislators hang on the walls—rotated to give everyone exposure.
There are also informal pizza dinners and plenty of phone calls to touch base.
“Kevin does really well because he has a big ear,” said Shawn Steel, a Republican National Committeeman from California. “He knows what you want before you know what you want.”
McCarthy, whose politics fit his Central Valley district, is known as a solid conservative, but not necessarily a policy guy.
When he and fellow Republican Reps. Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor teamed up in 2007 as leaders of a new generation of Republican “Young Guns,” Cantor was considered the leader, Ryan the thinker and McCarthy the strategist.
“He thinks more about political strategy than any human being I’ve ever met,” said Steel. “Every event that he does is political. That’s where he gets his sustenance. ”
By 2002, when he was 37, McCarthy had gotten himself elected to the California General Assembly. And when Thomas decided to retire from Congress in 2006, McCarthy moved up, rising to House majority whip by 2011.
McCarthy took another quick step up to majority leader when Cantor was unexpectedly defeated in a GOP primary in 2014. Boehner’s surprise exit opened the path for McCarthy to reach for the top GOP leadership slot.
“He was making his plea this morning for speaker and this afternoon he’s out of the race,” said Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana. “What happened in those four hours, I don’t know.”
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