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Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), who served as acting House speaker for three weeks in October while GOP lawmakers struggled to unite behind a permanent leader, said Tuesday that he will not seek reelection next year.
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“I will be retiring from Congress at the end of my current term,” McHenry said in a statement. “This is not a decision I come to lightly, but I believe there is a season for everything and — for me — this season has come to an end.”
McHenry, 48, did not indicate what he would be doing next. The 10-term congressman was first elected to the House in 2004 and represents North Carolina’s deep-red 10th Congressional District. He currently serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee but would have been term-limited from that position after next year.
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Early in his career, McHenry developed a reputation as a hyperpartisan “attack dog-in-training,” slamming Democrats as well as moderate Republicans. Through the latter part of his nearly two decades in Congress, however, McHenry had kept a lower profile, eschewing top leadership positions.
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That changed after the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the post of House speaker in early October. That thrust McHenry into the spotlight as McCarthy’s designated speaker pro tempore, or acting speaker. McHenry presided over the chamber for three weeks — with limited powers — as the Republican conference failed multiple times to coalesce behind a permanent replacement.
In one of his first acts as temporary speaker, McHenry ordered former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), the former majority leader, to vacate their Capitol hideaway offices.
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Though McHenry did not express interest in seeking the speakership permanently, he seemed amenable to some Republicans’ calls to expand the powers of the acting speaker. Ultimately, after a three-week-long impasse and multiple failed votes, Republicans successfully elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
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McHenry, who before his stint as acting speaker was better known for his bow ties and deadpan jokes, is a close ally of McCarthy. He was first elected to the House in 2004, when he was 29, after a grass-roots campaign that involved knocking on 60,000 doors, according to the Associated Press. He worked on the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, who later appointed him as special assistant to the U.S. secretary of labor.
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McHenry will join the more than three dozen House members who have announced they will not seek reelection in 2024, because they are either retiring or seeking other office. His planned departure is among the most high-profile.
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McHenry’s district, which covers parts of central and western North Carolina to the northwest of Charlotte, is likely to stay in Republican hands. Donald Trump won the district by more than 36 points in 2020, and McHenry has repeatedly won reelection by landslide margins, most recently with nearly 73 percent of the vote in 2022.
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In his statement Tuesday, McHenry downplayed “handwringing and ink spilled” about the future of Congress as an institution, saying he had witnessed plenty of change over his 20 years in the House.
“I truly feel this institution is on the verge of the next great turn,” McHenry said. “Whether it’s 1974, 1994, or 2010, we’ve seen the House evolve over time. Evolutions are often lumpy and disjointed, but at each stage, new leaders emerge. There are many smart and capable members who remain, and others are on their way. I’m confident the House is in good hands.”
Andrew Jeong contributed to this report.
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