and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan<\/a> as one who could \u201crise up.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cYou look at the Democrats \u2014 so many running and so many who are not qualified,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cLike, Eric Swalwell is not qualified to be governor. He\u2019s not qualified to actually run for governor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, attends the Panel Discussion \u2018Playing With Fire: The Need for Decisive Climate Action\u2019 at the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 13, 2026 in Munich, Germany. Getty Images<\/p>\n
McCarthy went on to discuss the GOP\u2019s midterm tactics as Republicans begin to outline a strategy for defying the odds in the elections, which are historically difficult for the party in the White House.<\/p>\n
While speaking at Harvard University in November, McCarthy explained how the MAGA pull Trump benefited from in the 2024 election does not transfer to his Republican counterparts.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think you can just have what President Trump has. No, he\u2019s earned it. He\u2019s earned through a lot of years,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s taken on people before, so they see that strength behind it. You can\u2019t just be anointed. You have to earn where you go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor of San Jose Matt Mahan speaks at the Super Bowl LX Opening Night media event leading up to Super Bowl LX in San Jose, California on Monday, February 2, 2026. John Angelillo\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
The former speaker noted infighting within the GOP, criticizing congressional Republicans for wasting key time in having the majority during the government shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re turning over the floor to Democrats \u2014 that\u2019s a bad sign,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cThey\u2019re fighting among themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added the record-length government shutdown was a mistake that gave away \u201ctwo months\u201d of a two-year majority. Republicans are clinging to a tiny advantage in the House right now, and oddsmakers say Democrats are likely to retake control in November.<\/p>\n
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks to reporters after a campaign event on Proposition 50 in San Francisco, Nov. 3, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
McCarthy stressed that Republicans must celebrate their political wins in order to have a better chance in the midterms, citing border security as one example.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they secured the border, why didn\u2019t you go to the border? Why didn\u2019t you show people, all these people aren\u2019t coming across anymore, that it\u2019s safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
McCarthy said Republicans must show Americans what they\u2019ve accomplished ahead of the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pointed to outmigration from California as evidence of what he described as Gov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,457,4594,21121,973],"class_list":{"0":"post-177315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-gavin-newsom","12":"tag-governors","13":"tag-kevin-mccarthy","14":"tag-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}