Kevin McCarthy 

Congressman of California & Majority Whip

 

Congressman Kevin McCarthy currently serves as Majority Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the proud Representative of California’s 22nd District. First elected to Congress in 2006, Kevin is a native of Bakersfield and a fourth-generation Kern County resident. He is committed to policies that give small businesses and entrepreneurs the confidence they need to hire, expand, invest and innovate.

 

Kevin started his own small business before the age of 21. He built Kevin O’s Deli from the ground up, even enlisting his father’s help in building the Deli’s counter in their garage. He worked hard, hired employees and enjoyed success in his community. That's also where he first encountered government overregulation. The countless frivolous and redundant rules, as well as the taxes small businesses like his were burdened with compelled Kevin to get into public service. When Kevin sold his business, he used the profits to put himself through college and graduate school. He received both his undergraduate degree and his Masters in Business Administration at California State University, Bakersfield.

 

During college, Kevin accepted an internship with Congressman Bill Thomas, and soon became a member of Congressman Thomas's staff. He won his first election in 2000 as Trustee to the Kern Community College District. In 2002, McCarthy was elected to represent the 32nd Assembly District in the California State Assembly.  As a freshman legislator, he was selected unanimously by his Republican colleagues to serve as the Assembly Republican Leader, becoming the first freshman legislator and the first legislator from Kern County to assume the top post in the California Legislature. Kevin worked with his colleagues in the Assembly and Senate, and with the Governor to reduce California’s budget deficit, overhaul the state worker’s compensation system and enhance California’s business climate to create more opportunities for California workers and businesses.

 

Kevin brings his personal experience as a small business owner and as an effective leader in the statehouse to Washington D.C. In his role as Majority Whip, Kevin leads the effort in Congress to advance common sense policies that will put America back on the path to prosperity. Since gaining control of the House in November 2010, Kevin and his Republican colleagues have blocked the largest tax increase in American history, cut out-of-control government spending by historic levels and passed numerous pieces of legislation that will help create jobs in America. These bills reduce the burden on small businesses, increase our nation’s energy security by promoting domestic energy production, knock down barriers for small business owners to access capital and generally increase certainty in the private sector.

 

Kevin will continue to fight to get Washington’s fiscal house in order while promoting policies that empower the private sector to invest and create jobs.

 

When Kevin is not in Washington fighting for the constituents of California’s 22nd District and for the future of America, he is home in Bakersfield with his wife Judy and two children Connor and Meghan.