Kevin McCarthy gets a thorn in his side: Self-proclaimed MAGA Republican announces he will challenge the former speaker after he was ousted as questions about his political future swirl

Kevin McCarthy faces a right-wing challenger from David Giglio, a Californian who says the former speaker has “sold out to special interests.”

“McCarthy has failed the American people,” Giglio wrote in a campaign announcement.

“After years of selling out to special interests, the people of the Central Valley deserve an America First Republican to fight for them in Washington and work with President Donald Trump to WAGE WAR against one-party corruption!”

Giglio called the eight Republicans who, all Democrats, ousted McCarthy as speaker “courageous” and accused him of “capitulating to Joe Biden.”

McCarthy has promised to remain in office as a full member and even seek re-election after his historic overthrow.

McCarthy’s removal culminated in 22 days of chaos until last week when Republicans rallied around Mike Johnson, La., as their speaker.

Giglio tweeted last week that it is better to have no speaker than to have McCarthy at the helm.

McCarthy, a Bakersfield native, has run for re-election in previous cycles, having held his seat since 2007. He won 67.2 percent of the vote in 2022

Earlier this month, McCarthy insisted he would not leave Congress and would seek re-election in 2024.

“I want to keep the majority,” he said. ‘I want to expand it further.’

McCarthy long found himself in the crosshairs of his party’s MAGA right wing, which was angry about his deal with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling and then the continuing resolution to fund the government that he put on the floor. Trump supported his speaker’s bid in January but did little to prevent eight Republicans from kicking him out in October.

Giglio, a former high school teacher in Connecticut, now owns a sports memorabilia store in Madera, California, according to his Linkedin page.