CNN — At the Kern County Fair this weekend, monster trucks roar in a grandstand, all-Alaskan racing pigs squeal in a tent, and at the county Republican party table, voters smile and pose next to a life-sized cardboard picture of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.... In Bakersfield, California, the legislative chaos in the House of Representatives pushing the country to the brink of a government shutdown – starring the town’s favorite son, Speaker McCarthy – hardly registers in this agricultural and

The next speaker of the U.S. House could very well hail from California — not Nancy Pelosi’s slice of the Golden State, but the other California, Donald Trump’s California.... Kevin McCarthy is a son of the Central Valley, a farming and oil-pumping heartland that eagerly embraced the former president.... ” McCarthy’s career in many ways reflects the arc of Republican politics, coming of age in the heady optimism of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and then shifting to align with Trump’s more hard-ed

Now, it’s really what is the legacy you leave?... Crime remains a problem as the region struggles with population fluctuations and income inequality.... Rand Paul, R-Ky., but also wants to see McCarthy reach out more to Democrats....