Kevin McCarthy is a Republican who has served as the U.S. representative for California's 23rd Congressional District since 2007. He was the House majority leader from 2014 to 2019.

"He had some issues, but he's young and so you don't wish somebody ill," Kevin McCarthy told reporters after Cawthorn conceded defeat.

"I almost feel like if I didn't run now that I might participate in some kind of civil war to come," Ben Dewell, a challenger in the upcoming California primary, told Insider.