Connect with us

Politics

McCarthy’s constituents ‘don’t blame him,’ but worry about losing their voice in Congress

Published

on

McCarthy’s constituents ‘don’t blame him,’ but worry about losing their voice in Congress

Billie Jo Medders can recite her history with Kevin McCarthy like a well-worn catechism. Before he was a congressman, before he was California’s first Republican speaker of the House, he was the little boy who attended preschool with her daughter, the 13-year-old with a mouth full of braces, the newlywed who met his wife at Bakersfield High School.

“And then he came into our office,” said Medders, who worked for three decades for then-Rep. Bill Thomas, McCarthy’s predecessor in Congress. And the rest is history.

Beneath twinkling Christmas lights at a downtown Bakersfield bar on Wednesday, Medders and the Republican women seated around her were still processing McCarthy’s announcement earlier that day that the longtime Central Valley representative is retiring from Congress by the end of the year.

The decision prompted sadness, but not surprise, in McCarthy’s home district, the most Republican in California. To his constituents in Bakersfield and the surrounding area, the writing had been on the wall for the last two months, after bitter infighting among House Republicans led to McCarthy’s historic, humiliating ouster as the 55th speaker of the House.

Advertisement

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield speaks to reporters hours after he was ousted as speaker of the House on Oct. 3.

(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

“I am sad to see him retire, because I’m selfish, and I want people like Kevin McCarthy in Washington, D.C.,” said Annette Londquist, the head of Bakersfield Republican Women, a club that counts McCarthy among its 515 members. “But with everything that’s happened to him, I understand that it would be hard to continue.”

McCarthy’s announcement Wednesday capped a tumultuous year in the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority and discord among party members. McCarthy endured 14 failed votes in his quest to become speaker before he compromised with his hard-line GOP opponents, agreeing to restore a rule that made it easy for any House member to call for a vote to remove him from the top post.

Advertisement

That compromise clinched McCarthy’s victory in January and led to his ouster in October. Angered by his decision to work with Democrats to stave off a government shutdown, a group of eight hard-right Republicans led by Florida’s Rep. Matt Gaetz were joined by Democrats in a historic vote to remove McCarthy as speaker.

The move prompted fury in Bakersfield, where McCarthy, known simply as “Kevin,” is beloved by many.

“I don’t blame him,” said Jacquie Sullivan, Bakersfield’s now-retired longest-running city councilmember, of McCarthy’s decision. She sat with Medders on Wednesday night at a watch party for the GOP primary presidential debate. “He was so mistreated.”

Medders added: “’Round here, Matt Gaetz is not a good name to mention. He’s just upset the whole apple cart, you know? Who knows what’s gonna happen next?”

Several people gather in chairs near at large-screen television in a warmly lit bar

Members of Bakersfield Republican Women and others shared their reactions to McCarthy’s decision Wednesday while attending a GOP presidential debate watch party at a local bar.

(Alex Horvath / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

During McCarthy’s grueling quest for the speaker’s gavel in January, Bakersfield resident Kathy Scrivner was on her knees in front of the television, praying that her fellow congregant at Valley Baptist Church would be victorious.

Scrivner’s eyes filled with tears when she learned McCarthy was retiring. But, she said, she understands the stresses of serving in public office: Her son is on the Kern County Board of Supervisors, her sister is Kern County’s district attorney, and Scrivner herself is a Kern High School District trustee.

“I don’t think that regular laypeople know how difficult it is,” she said. “It’s hard, being criticized day and night.”

McCarthy is the third congressional leader that California has lost this year. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco stepped down from the House’s Democratic leadership in January, and longtime Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in September. Just two Californians still hold leadership positions: Reps. Pete Aguilar of Redlands, chair of the House’s Democratic Caucus; and Ted Lieu of Torrance, House Democrats’ vice chair.

Advertisement

McCarthy has represented the Bakersfield region in Congress since 2007, taking over for Thomas, who had served for 28 years. So the coming change is unusual and, for some, unsettling.

“He’s said he’s fighting for us, he’s fighting, he’s fighting — and now he quit,” said Greg Perrone, 59, president of the Greater Bakersfield Republican Assembly, the more conservative GOP club in town. He said he is neither “a McCarthy fan” nor a “McCarthy foe,” and doesn’t blame the congressman for being “probably a little battle-weary,” but chided McCarthy for not finishing out his term.

“He’s leaving an open seat, so now we have no voice,” Perrone said.

Perrone said he had hoped McCarthy would use his influence and fundraising prowess to continue to push Republican priorities through Congress.

No date has been set for a special election to serve the last year of McCarthy’s current term. Candidates running for the full two-year term that starts in January 2025 have until next Wednesday to file paperwork.

Advertisement

“I’m hearing from everybody,” said Cathy Abernathy, a Republican strategist and consultant for McCarthy who gave him his first job in politics as an intern in Thomas’ office.

Abernathy is a consultant for several possible candidates for McCarthy’s seat, including state Sen. Shannon Grove, who has not announced whether she’ll run. Assemblymember Vince Fong, who previously worked in Thomas’ and McCarthy’s offices, said Thursday he would not vie for the congressional seat.

McCarthy’s departure will also be a rude awakening for Republican leaders across the U.S., said Jim Brulte, former chair of the California Republican Party.

The road to the House majority runs through New York and California, Brulte said. McCarthy’s biggest legacy will be helping to deliver the House majority for the Republicans in 2010 and again in 2022, raising money and selecting diverse candidates who were good political fits for their unique districts, he said. McCarthy understood, Brulte said, that “if you don’t have the majority, you can’t govern.”

A handful of congressional districts in California have been in a tug-of-war for years between the two major parties. Democrats flipped seven seats in 2018, and in 2020 Republicans took four back.

Advertisement

New leadership in the House, including a new speaker, Mike Johnson (R-La.), will have to spend time boning up on the races and the swing districts in the Golden State that McCarthy “instinctively knew, because he’s been involved in California politics for over a quarter of a century,” Brulte said.

“It’s a huge loss to California,” he said. “And it’s a huge loss to the Republicans in Congress. Even the Republicans in Congress that didn’t appreciate Kevin may come to appreciate him a lot more in December of 2024.”

McCarthy, who grew up in Bakersfield, won his last election by more than 34 percentage points. Former Bakersfield Councilmember Mark Salvaggio, 73, an independent, said McCarthy would have overwhelmingly won reelection again — but, he said, getting ousted as speaker was “embarrassing” and “humiliating.”

A regular letter writer to the Bakersfield Californian, Salvaggio said letters to the editor have become increasingly critical of McCarthy in recent years. Despite the congressman’s relative popularity in his home district, few people jumped to defend him, Salvaggio noted. Others criticized the congressman for spending little time with his constituents, he said — particularly compared with his new neighbor in Congress, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), who holds frequent town hall meetings in his district.

But McCarthy “has been detached from his district,” Salvaggio said. “I recognized that Kevin becoming speaker was good for his district and for fellow Republicans in the state … but it never panned out because of his short tenure.”

Advertisement

At the debate watch party, Medders — years after she and McCarthy worked on the same team doing constituent services for Thomas — still proudly recalls how she helped the onetime speaker get elected to Congress, recording his first radio advertisement and eventually serving as his delegate appointee for Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign in 2012.

“The world is his oyster,” Medders said of McCarthy; after he leaves office, “he will be able to do whatever he wants.”

Nelson and contributing Times staff writer Seema Mehta reported from Los Angeles.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Politics

Trump announces to crowd he 'just took off the last bandage' at faith event after assassination attempt

Published

on

Trump announces to crowd he 'just took off the last bandage' at faith event after assassination attempt

Former President Trump announced to a crowd Friday night he “just took off the last bandage” from his ear after an attempted assassination nearly two weeks ago.

The Believer’s Summit, hosted by Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, focused on reaching voters of faith. Dr. Ben Carson, former HUD Secretary, preceded the former president.

“And we want to thank each and every one of the believers in this room for your prayers and your incredible support. I really did appreciate it,” Trump said.

TOP DEMOCRATIC SUPER PAC LAUNCHES MASSIVE $50M AD SPEND FOR HARRIS LEADING UP TO DNC

“Something was working. That we know. Something was working. So, I thank you very much. And I stand before you tonight, thanks to the power of prayer and the grace of Almighty God,” he added.

Advertisement

“As I think you can see, I’ve recovered well. And, in fact, I just took off the last bandage off of my ear.”

Former President Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, speaks at Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla., July 26, 2024.  (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

The crowd roared with applause as the former president gestured to his injured ear.

I just got it off,” he clarified. “I took it off for this group. I don’t know why I did that for this group, but that’s it. I think that’s it.”

Trump’s speech included attacks against his presumptive Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, calling the vice president “a bum.”

Advertisement

“Three weeks ago, she was a bum, a failed vice president and a failed administration with millions of people crossing. And she was the border czar. Now they’re trying to say she never was,” the former president said.

TRUMP’S FORMER DOCTOR GIVES HEALTH UPDATE, CALLS OUT WRAY AS FBI AFFIRMS BULLET STRUCK FORMER PRESIDENT

“If radical liberal Kamala Harris gets in and, by the way, there are numerous ways of saying her name, they were explaining to me. … I said, don’t worry about it.

“Doesn’t matter what I say. I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn’t care less.”

Dr. Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, released a letter earlier Friday offering an update on Trump’s health after the assassination attempt July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Advertisement
US-VOTE-POLITICS-TRUMP2

Former President Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, speaks at Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla., July 26, 2024. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

“I want to reassure the American people and the rest of the world that President Trump is doing extremely well,” Jackson said.

“He is rapidly recovering from the gunshot wound to his right ear. I will continue to be available to assist President Trump and his personal physician in any way they see fit and will provide updates as necessary and with the permission of President Trump.”

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI confirmed Friday to Fox News Digital.

Trump and running mate JD Vance, the Ohio senator, are scheduled to appear for a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Saturday.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Politics

From Let's Go Brandon to Let's Go Brenda. Trump merch sellers say they'll be just fine after Biden exit

Published

on

From Let's Go Brandon to Let's Go Brenda. Trump merch sellers say they'll be just fine after Biden exit

Vincent Scuzzese runs a store in New Jersey named Let’s Go Brandon.

Yes, that Let’s Go Brandon, the pro-Trump mantra gracing Scuzzese’s merchandise — shirts, flags, mugs, makeup compacts and more. There’s a Let’s Go Brandon adult coloring book (subtitle: “The Story of the WORST President in U.S. History”). And for the athletic, a 32-inch Let’s Go Brandon skateboard.

So, what happens now that “Brandon” himself has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Harris?

A rebrand.

Scuzzese’s shelves now offer merch with a new motto: Let’s Go Brenda.

Advertisement

“My sales are going nuts,” said Scuzzese, 59, who opened his store in a strip mall off Route 37 in Toms River, N.J., two years ago. “Biden dropped out, but Kamala has the same views — even worse views. She’s more socialist.”

After Biden quit the race Sunday, social media quickly filled with jokes about warehouses full of rotting, deeply discounted anti-Biden merch and Let’s Go Brandon flags flying at half-staff. One meme includes an altered photo of a marquee sign for a different Let’s Go Brandon store; the memester added a fake banner for Spirit Halloween, the seasonal retailer that pops up in empty stores.

But the folks selling anti-Biden swag say they will be just fine, thank you very much.

“Dear Liberal Snowflakes, We appreciate your fan emails and phone calls voicing your concerns in regards to our now ‘useless inventory’ since the Sleepy Joe dropout. We understand that liberals don’t have an IQ of even two digits and have no idea how printing businesses work,” the website for the Let’s Go Brandon Online Shop read on Thursday.

Even if Let’s Go Brenda — the female version of Brandon — catches on, the original slogan doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

Advertisement

The crass catchphrase, which began as a sort-of-but-not-really inside joke among supporters of former President Trump, became so ubiquitous that the Republican National Committee sells its own Brandon-branded beverage koozies, bumper stickers and grilling irons.

“It was a way to signal to other MAGA people that they’re in the club and to signal to the liberals in the community that they’re not welcome,” said Tim Miller, a former RNC spokesman, who left the GOP in 2020 and is now a Trump critic.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of anti-Kamala slogans,” Miller said. But Brandon “might stick around,” he said, like Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan and MAGA acronym, as well as the red hats.

The Let’s Go Brandon jeer came from a viral video of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown being interviewed in October 2021 by an NBC reporter after winning his first Xfinity Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

In the crowd, people chanted, “F— Joe Biden!” The reporter, apparently trying to cover up the obscenity, suggested they were yelling, “Let’s go, Brandon!”

Advertisement

Let’s Go Brandon is an anti-Biden slogan seen on countless flags, shirts and merchandise across the country.

(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The taunt later inspired pro-Biden memes with a laser-eyed alter ego of the president called Dark Brandon. Although Biden embraced the image and his campaign sold its own Dark Brandon swag, the meme never came close to overtaking Let’s Go Brandon.

Or, for that matter, the vulgar acronym FJB — it means what you think it means — which adorns countless flags and bumper stickers across the country.

Advertisement

Outside the Thunder-Rode motorcyle accessories shop on Route 66 in Kingman, Ariz., owner Jack Alexander flies a flag with an anti-Biden expletive. He’s got some inside, too. They sell well, he said.

For now, he has no plans to get rid of them. Alexander said it does not make sense “to spend a lot of money” on new merch before the party’s nomination becomes official at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

“We don’t think Harris is going to make it past the convention,” Alexander said. “We feel there’s going to be a war within the Democratic Party because of the non-election process that put her where she is.”

In New Jersey, Scuzzese said sales at the Let’s Go Brandon store have been through the roof since the failed assassination attempt against Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Penn. That night, Scuzzese said, he was so busy that he kept his store open long past closing time.

“Before he got shot, people were afraid to wear his hat and put his flags on their house,” Scuzzese said. Afterward, “they were coming in and buying hats and saying, ‘I’m not taking this hat off. I’m wearing it proudly. I hid it for long enough.’”

Advertisement

Scuzzese quickly hawked shirts with the iconic photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in front of the American flag. And his Let’s Go Brenda shirts were on the shelves within two days of Biden quitting the race.

Despite Biden’s exit, Scuzzese has no plans, at least for now, to change the name of his business.

And the Let’s Go Brandon phrase itself?

“At least until the election,” Scuzzese said, “it ain’t going nowhere.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Park Police union says officers ‘did everything they could’ during DC anti-Israel riot

Published

on

Park Police union says officers ‘did everything they could’ during DC anti-Israel riot

Following the protests at Union Station by anti-Israel agitators defacing federal property in protest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, a Park Police union is pushing back against criticism that only a few arrests were made.

Thousands of Hamas-sympathizing agitators descended on Washington, D.C., Tuesday, at one point defacing federal monuments with phrases in support of the terrorist group responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, saying, “Hamas is coming.” 

Twenty-three people were arrested at the protests, but some have suggested that number should have been higher. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted on X, “How many more times are they going to allow leftist degenerates who support terrorism and hate America to vandalize property and attack police? There should have been hundreds of arrests today in D.C. not just 23.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS REPLACE AMERICAN FLAGS AT UNION STATION AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS

Advertisement

The Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station during an anti-Israel protest on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Seth Herald)

But the U.S. Park Police Labor Committee is pushing back.

“Our officers on the ground did everything they could to protect life and property. In fact, despite having only 29 officers available to mitigate damage — 29! — with no additional help from the Department of the Interior, we processed several arrests for charges ranging from assault on a police officer to destruction of government property,” Kenneth Spencer, chairman of the United States Park Police Fraternal Order of Police, said in a statement. 

“That’s why it’s so disheartening to hear some members of Congress and members of the media, many of whom describe themselves as ‘champions’ of law enforcement, suggesting that officers gave protesters a ‘pass’ or that insufficient arrests were made. 

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who truly cares to understand the problem would see that our officer staffing crisis is at the root of our agency’s mission readiness. A small unit of 29 officers arrested 10 individuals while being assaulted by a mob of thousands. We simply did not have the staffing or resources to accomplish a mass arrest operation.”

Advertisement

SEE IT: THE MOST DRAMATIC PHOTOS FROM WEDNESDAY’S PRO-HAMAS WASHINGTON, D.C. PROTESTS

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator sprays graffiti on Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station

An anti-Israel demonstrator sprays graffiti on the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

At least one demonstrator, whose face was covered, was spotted by Fox News carrying what appeared to be the flag of the terrorist group Hamas while others were heard shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

KAMALA HARRIS REACTS TO ANTI-ISRAEL RIOTS AT DC’S UNION STATION

Protesters-gather-for-Israeli-PM-Netanyahu's-address-to-Congress-in-Washington

Anti-Israel demonstrators burn an effigy depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside Union Station on the day of Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

The White House condemned the protests Wednesday evening, calling the chaos “disgraceful.” 

Advertisement

“Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another is disgraceful,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a comment to Fox News Digital Wednesday evening. 

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending