Can Kevin Mccarthy succeed where John Boehner failed?

     Kevin Mccarthy, Republican Majority Leader, is expected to be voted Speaker of the House now that John Boehner has announced his resignation at the end of October. House conservatives hope the change will bring about a shift in the way leadership worked with the caucus’ more conservative members.

McCarthy is the odds-on favorite to replace Boehner once he steps down. If he succeeds in doing so, it will mark one of the more meteoric rises to power in congressional history.

McCarthy, 50, is from Bakersfield, California. The son of a fire chief, he opened a business (a delicatessen) after winning a $5,000 lottery drawing when he was 19. He subsequently sold the Deli and put himself through school, attending California State University, Bakersfield. From the mid-1990’s until 2000 he worked for long-time Bakersfield congressman Bill Thomas. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002, and when Thomas retired, ran for and won his old boss’ seat in the House.

That McCarthy is poised to become Speaker less than 10 years after first being elected to the House is remarkable, but it is also a testament to his personal style. In his relatively short time in public life he has built a reputation as a listener, someone who takes the time to understand his constituents’ and peers’ concerns. McCarthy spends a large portion of his time meeting with colleagues in small groups and one-on-one. He keeps his office on the first floor of the Capitol making it more easily accessible, unlike previous majority leaders. After Boehner’s announcement on Friday, McCarthy spent the weekend calling every Republican member of the House asking for their support in the Speaker’s race.

Boehner was never regarded as an unfair Speaker – far from it. But there was some dissatisfaction within the Republican Caucus with how Boehner treated members of the conservative wing of the party. Specifically, how he treated members who voted against him in Speaker’s races. (He reportedly stripped members of their committee chairmanships for opposing him. “I don’t believe in rewarding bad behavior,” as he put it.)

But was the Republican caucus so fractious because of Boehner or did Boehner lead the way he did because the caucus was so fractious? McCarthy hopes it is the former and not the latter. Time will tell whether he can succeed in bringing Republicans together during a turbulent time or whether just by virtue of being elected leader he becomes a target as his predecessor did.