House Minority Leader and Congressman of the prior 23rd Congressional District of California Kevin McCarthy visited his campaign office in Clovis on Friday, August 26th for a short press conference with local media.
The congressman opened the campaign office in Old Town Clovis in March of this year in order to reach out to constituents of the newly created 20th Congressional District of California for which he will be running for office on the November ballot.
His opponent Marisa Wood (D), an English teacher from Bakersfield advanced from the primary election in June. The 20th Congressional District leans heavily towards the Republican Party according to FiveThirtyEight.com, a statistical analysis website owned by ABC News.
When asked about his opponent, Congressman McCarthy seemed at times to be boastful in his abilities to win the district all the while trusting in “the power of the idea” when deciding who he thought should represent the city of Clovis in Washington.
“No matter who runs against, it should be the power of the idea. It doesn’t matter if someone’s running against me or somebody is not, I’m still gonna go out, knock on doors, listen to what the concerns are – it makes me a better member.”
At a point in the press conference, prior Congressional Members to the city of Clovis were brought up with the intention of pointing out how they were not present in the community and how Congressman McCarthy plans on changing that once and if he is elected.
“Well everybody has to run and earn the support, I don’t assume people just give me support, I have to earn your support. So I’m here to listen to you first and foremost to have a better understanding of areas that I don’t know.”
On more current news, Congressman McCarthy was asked about the recent Mar-a-Lago search and how that would play out in front of voters and the midterm.
“I think the most important questions of the midterm are gonna be economic questions. But what we have found by the D.O.J raiding the former President’s house has never happened before. And now, the American public deserves the right to know. I think you erode confidence in secrecy. You never want in America, where somebody uses the Department of Justice for political reasons.”
Congressman McCarthy was said to be “outspoken” about his thoughts on the January 6th hearings.
“I think what happened on January 6th was wrong, but I think the way about this committee is not a legitimate committee…It’s a purely political committee, designed to play politics and I think that’s wrong.”
When asked about whether or not more of the Republican Party should be more involved in school board races, McCarthy came back to the potential of the “idea.”
“You wanna have a competition of ideas. Education is the great equalizer. What we found going through the pandemic we now have this lost learning of a whole generation. People fell behind. What is our plan, not to just get you back in school but to catch you up. I’m not worried about our kids competing against each other, but I’m worried about our kids competing with India and China.”
In the end, Congressman McCarthy remained confident that the Republican Party, different from the Democratic Party, has a plan of “commitment to America”. “[Republicans] Will make us energy independent, lower our gas prices, we’ll be able to give parents a bill of rights to have a say in their kids’ education, we’ll no longer defund the police, we’ll fund the police, and we’ll make sure D.A.’s uphold the law. We’re gonna bring the supply chain back from China, and create manufacturing jobs here in America.”
McCarthy then reminded the public, “I put a headquarters here so that people know where to come to ask questions. I come up here, I’ve got a job that I’ve gotta do but I’m gonna be here as often as I can.”