McCarthy under hometown’s scrutiny

Bakersfield, Calif., residents express concerns, opinions on House speaker

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — In House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s central California hometown of Bakersfield, some voters are asking if what has become an embarrassing bid to succeed Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came at the expense of the twin engines of the local economy — oil production and agriculture.

McCarthy hails from a conservative, inland region of California far from the liberal strongholds of San Francisco and Los Angeles that doesn’t figure in the California Dream myth of fast fame and easy living. Farming and oil pumping shape the economy — on a recent rainy morning in Bakersfield, fields of oil tanks, warehouses and the leaping flames from a refinery’s gas flare stood out against a coal-colored sky.

Outside Ethel’s Old Corral cafe in the city’s Oildale neighborhood, oil field worker Zane Denio said he wasn’t following McCarthy’s day-to-day travails on Capitol Hill as he attempted to take Pelosi’s gavel. It took four days and 15 rounds of voting before McCarthy won the speakership.

The registered Republican has voted for McCarthy in the past, but next time? That “depends on who is running against him,” Denio said. “I think he’s just another politician. That’s the bottom line.”

Denio said he cares about the oil industry and its good-paying jobs, but he sees them under constant attack from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democraticdominated Legislature pushing the state toward a green energy future.

Wearing a broad-brimmed cowboy hat, boots and sunglasses as the sun broke through a stormy sky, Denio questioned why McCarthy hasn’t been more outspoken in defense of the industry. The availability of water in a drought-parched state also remains a constant challenge for agriculture, another foundation block in the regional economy.

“He could do more for the folks living in Kern County,” north of Los Angeles where Bakersfield is the county seat. McCarthy’s “salary comes from these fields,” Denio said, waving his hand toward nearby hillsides covered with oil rigs.

McCarthy’s sporadic appearances in the district also are a concern for Andrew Willingham, a manager at the bustling Pyrenees Cafe in downtown Bakersfield, which is popular with oil field workers and dependent on their patronage.

McCarthy “definitely spends a lot more time in Washington than he does here,” said Willingham, a registered independent who calls McCarthy “a good person” who has left generous tips at the cafe.

But he worries the state is losing oil workers to Oklahoma and Texas and wants McCarthy to be more vocal in support of those jobs. While he would like to see McCarthy preside over the House “he might be able to focus more energy on Kern County if he wasn’t speaker,” Willingham said.

McCarthy has said the U.S. should boost domestic production to help keep pump prices in check.

While the region retains a Republican tilt — McCarthy easily won reelection last year — it has been changing like much of California, gradually becoming more diverse and Democratic. Former President Donald Trump carried Kern County by double digits in the 2020 presidential election.

To Mark Martinez, the political science department chair at California State University, Bakersfield, the turbulent congressional sessions leaving the House without a speaker expose weaknesses in McCarthy’s leadership that have damaged his reputation.

Republicans took the House in November under McCarthy’s leadership, but only by a fragile margin after a predicted “red wave” failed to materialize.

Denio and other constituents in his district don’t see him delivering for the region.

With Bakersfield in a rare, national spotlight, “this is really embarrassing,” Martinez said. “Kevin is going to come out of [the election for House speaker] looking very, very weak.”

That could embolden challengers eager to take his seat. “It’s a bat to the head for Kevin,” Martinez said.

Still, local supporters hope McCarthy endures and mounts a comeback; he’s known for surprising his doubters.

Christy Ferguson, who owns Zingo’s Cafe and an adjacent cocktail bar in Bakersfield, recalled McCarthy’s assistance helping her gain $25,000 in pandemic financial aid that she invested in her businesses.

Ferguson, a Republican, puzzled over McCarthy’s political struggles in Washington. “I think he should be speaker,” she said, predicting even greater future success.

“He’ll be our next president,” she said.