Swalwell predicts McCarthy will leave Congress in coming weeks

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) predicted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will leave Congress by the end of the year, following former Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) historic expulsion Friday.

“With Santos gone, you’re hearing it here first: the next GOP member to leave Congress will be @SpeakerMcCarthy,” Swalwell wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.

“No way he stays,” he continued. “A guy who kidney punches his colleagues from behind is too afraid to serve out a full term with them. I bet he’s gone by end of year. What say you?”

Swalwell’s reference to “kidney punches” pointed to a disputed accusation that McCarthy deliberately elbowed Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) as he walked behind the lawmaker last month.

McCarthy denied it was deliberate at the time, saying, “I guess our elbows hit as I walked by,” adding, “If I would hit somebody, they would I know hit them.”

The incident came just after Burchett helped seal McCarthy’s fate as an ousted Speaker of the House. McCarthy spent years eyeing the top seat in Congress but held the gavel for less than a year before a small group of Republicans moved to oust him amid claims of broken promises and conflicting policy priorities.

During McCarthy’s time as Speaker, he resisted calls to expel Santos, despite evidence against the former congressman. McCarthy needed every vote in his slim House majority. The situation changed after the Ethics Committee released its final report, which detailed the evidence against Santos, and newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took the reins.

The ill feeling between the two California congressmen peaked earlier this year when McCarthy, as Speaker, formally rejected Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee.

McCarthy has shot down reports and rumors that he will leave the House midterm, after losing the Speaker’s gavel.

“I’m not resigning. I got a lot more work to do,” McCarthy told reporters in October, adding that he plans to run for reelection in 2024.