McCarthy is the representative for California’s 23rd congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. McCarthy is next up for reelection in 2020.
He is also House Minority Leader, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
He was previously the representative for California’s 22nd congressional district as a Republican from 2007 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Kevin McCarthy [R-CA23]](/static/legislator-photos/412190-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for McCarthy.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
McCarthy is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills McCarthy has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Jun 18, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
McCarthy was the primary sponsor of 14 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 5509 (115th): Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act
- H.R. 6888: Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018
- H.R. 1988 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1730 18th Street in Bakersfield, California, as the “Merle Haggard Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 1989: VET TEC Act
- H.R. 39 (115th): TALENT Act of 2017
- H.R. 6007 (114th): To amend title 49, United States Code, to include consideration of certain impacts on commercial space launch and reentry activities in a navigable airspace analysis, and for ...
- H.R. 4685 (114th): Tule River Indian Reservation Land Trust, Health, and Economic Development Act
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
McCarthy sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (33%) Science, Technology, Communications (11%) Health (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Water Resources Development (11%) Emergency Management (11%) International Affairs (11%)
Recent Bills
Some of McCarthy’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 2858: FORWARD Act of 2019
- H.R. 2695: To rename the Success Dam in Tulare County, California, as the Richard L. ...
- H.R. 1600: RAILWAY Act
- H.Con.Res. 6: Providing for a joint session of Congress to receive a message from the ...
- H.Res. 11: Providing the sense of the House of Representatives that the House should not ...
- H.Res. 9: Providing for the designation of certain minority employees.
- H.Res. 1164: Providing for the printing of a revised edition of the Rules and Manual ...
View All » | View Cosponsors »
As House Minority Leader, McCarthy may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to Jun 2019, McCarthy missed 166 of 9,243 roll call votes, which is 1.8%. This is on par with the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
