Former House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said during a recent interview that he was considering not taking up a re-election campaign for the 2024 election cycle, according to The Washington Examiner.

McCarthy, who previously served as the House minority leader during the last Congress, won the speakership after more than a dozen rounds of voting, and only after acquiescing to a number of aggressively right-leaning lawmakers.

According to a recent interview over the weekend with a mainstream news source, however, the loss of that speakership just months into his term has the California Republican considering a retirement from his office.

McCarthy's Comments

When asked about his plans for the future, Mccarthy said he had "the holidays" to mull what his next step would be.

"I will talk to my family about the ideas of what is going forward, and then I will make a decision,” McCarthy told CNN’s Manu Raju in an interview.

“I always believe, and you hear me all of the time. You never give up in the process, right?

"Well, there’s so many ways you can do that to make sure you’re getting the job done," he said. "And I’m going to look at all options."

New -- Kevin McCarthy unplugged.

On the eight Republicans: "I don't believe them to be conservatives."

On Gaetz ethics probe: "He would throw his country away to try to protect himself from what would come out as the truth."

Also: McCarthy UNDECIDED about staying in House pic.twitter.com/6Pk833pv4v

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 12, 2023

McCarthy was unmovable in keeping his thoughts out of the public spotlight when asked which way he was leaning about a potential 2024 campaign.

McCarthy also used the interview to attack the eight Republicans in the House who voted to remove him as speaker, stating that they weren't true conservatives.

Gaetz Response

Speaking to the resolution that ended with his ousting, McCarthy said, “It’s driven by Gaetz, and it was all based upon an ethics complaint that happened in the last Congress."

Addressing the ethics probe his political nemesis is facing, McCarthy said that Gaetz "would throw his country away to try to protect himself from what would come out as the truth."

Gaetz seemed unbothered by the former majority leader's comments, laughing them off and telling CNN, “Thoughts and prayers to the former speaker as he works through his grief.”

McCarthy, who has represented California's 20th district since 2007, had the third shortest tenure as House Speaker, and is the first House Speaker to be ousted from office.