McCarthy quitting Congress, says he’ll serve country ‘in new ways’

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, whose tumultuous tenure as speaker ended not quite nine months after it began, announced Wednesday he would leave Congress at the end of the year.

“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” the California Republican wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.”

McCarthy’s departure announcement comes amid growing evidence that his fellow Republicans orchestrated his ouster as speaker in October mostly for personal, not political, reasons. The intraparty animosity was on full display when McCarthy apparently elbowed Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., in front of reporters in November.