He had the shortest tenure as a House Speaker in well over a century — but former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will be memorialized for years to come in the halls of Congress.

Almost three years after a handful of hardline Republicans and Democrats voted to oust him from the job, McCarthy returned to Capitol Hill to unveil his official Speaker portrait. The painting will now hang alongside other past speakers in the Speaker’s Lobby just off the House floor.

“I loved every minute of every day I was able to serve. I take the good days and the bad days and I do it all again,” said McCarthy in his remarks Tuesday.

The portrait, painted by Chas Fagan, depicts McCarthy standing in what could be his formal ceremonial office with a bust of George Washington in the background and a window looking out the west side of the Capitol towards the Washington Monument.

The Bakersfield Republican was first elected to Congress in 2007, rising through the ranks quickly to become whip and then Republican leader before a failed bid for speaker in 2015. It would be eight more years before McCarthy would finally secure the gavel.

His time in Congress earned him affection from both Republicans and even some Democrats. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who served in Democratic leadership during McCarthy’s time in office, spoke at McCarthy’s portrait unveiling Tuesday.

“He was never hesitant to point out the differences we had or the shortcomings he thought we had on my side of the aisle. I was enthusiastic to return the favor,” said Hoyer. “Through those years, our friendship grew and matured to a mutual respect and appreciation of each other’s commitments to its members, our staffs, commitment to the House as an institution.”

Despite those relationships built over nearly two decades in Congress, McCarthy’s road to House Speaker was not a smooth one. In January 2023, he faced 15 rounds of voting before finally securing the gavel. A group of hardline Republicans kept withholding support until he bowed to their demands, which included lowering the threshold of votes needed to oust him.

That concession ultimately led to his political demise.

In September 2023, McCarthy cut a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown — a deal he told friend Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., at the time would lead to his ouster. His prediction turned out to be true when hardliners, enraged by the deal, voted with all Democrats to vacate the chair and remove McCarthy from his position.

“[McCarthy] said, ‘I am not going to allow the men and women who put the uniform on every day, the men and women who fight for this democracy, who are willing to put their lives on the line for this country. I’m not going to allow them to not get paid because we haven’t done our job,’” said Graves Tuesday of McCarthy’s decision to do the right thing over his own political survival.

“That’s called leadership. That’s not failure. That’s what heroes are made out of,” Graves added.

McCarthy later resigned at the end of that year. Since then, he has gone on to found a policy think tank focused on AI and serve as chairman of a public affairs firm. He also has maintained a presence on cable television to talk about congressional politics. 

McCarthy, who often said during his time in office that “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” did not express any regrets about his decisions as speaker.

“I believe in service. I don’t think we need to talk down somebody from government. I want the very best to serve where we’re able to be,” McCarthy said.

“And most importantly,” he added with a smirk, “I want to thank all of you. It’s great to see you again. I hope a few of you missed me.”