Kevin McCarthy Reflects On Eventful Week

On Tuesday’s historic morning, Kevin McCarthy woke up at 6. He made himself ​“a very simple breakfast”: some raisin bread toast and a cup of coffee. Then he left the house.

No, not that Kevin McCarthy. And not that House.

As a California legislator faced a fateful vote that ultimately cost him his position as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a tireless New Havener who shares the same name embarked on his daily quest to help neighbors access food and young kids find moments of joy in their day.

Our Kevin McCarthy — a lifelong ​“lefty Democrat” of no relation to the Congressional representative — has lived in New Haven for the last 35 years with his wife Kate. He worked as a non-partisan policy analyst at the state legislature up until his retirement nine years ago.

He and Kate own a Bradley Street house, which they share with Leo and Oliver — two cats who double as alarm clocks, demanding early-morning food with reliable persistence.

On Tuesday morning, as his namesake faced a revolt by his fellow Republicans, McCarthy swallowed his toast and then exited that East Rock house, headed to Fair Haven by his usual mode of transit: his bicycle. 

He cycled to the food pantry at Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), where he unloaded boxes of food to be distributed to local immigrants and refugees for about an hour and a half.

He then stopped by FISH of Greater New Haven, where he picked up some food to deliver to neighbors unable to easily leave their homes.

He spent his afternoon at the Friends Center for Children, where he plays with 3- and 4‑year-olds who are especially fond of trying to tackle him.

McCarthy, age 69, loves ​“how curious little kids are.” They’re unafraid to ask him about things like the bump on his forehead. ​“Their perspective on the world is just so different from adults,” he said.

Tuesday’s visit to Friends was his first time at the childcare center in about a month, after a few weeks of traveling with Kate. The kids ran to greet him, cheering, ​“Kevin! Kevin!”

He also spends his weeks volunteering at the Loaves and Fishes food pantry, clearing invasive knotweed plants out of the Mill River Trail, assisting in the New Haven Reads book bank, providing helping hands to the Institute Library, vice-chairing the East Rock Community Management Team, and manning the East Rock School library.

On top of those commitments, McCarthy joked, ​“my full-time day job is commenting in the Independent.”

In his spare time, McCarthy reads about his California namesake in news sources like Politico and The New York Times. Over the past week he followed closely as the federal legislator brokered a stopgap bill with Democrats to delay a government shutdown for 45 more days, and as he lost his position shortly afterward with not a single Democratic vote of support.

“A real or threatened shutdown is not a grown-up conversation,” said New Haven’s McCarthy. This week in politics once again made clear to him that Congress is far from functional, ​“whether you’re on the right or the left.”

With no replacement speaker selected and the specter of a shutdown looming, the non-profits that McCarthy spends much of his time supporting may see far more demand for assistance. They may have to meet a skyrocketing need for more food and financial support with fewer resources in the absence of federal funding.

After leaving (albeit willingly) his job in the Capitol (albeit Connecticut’s) affecting a vast number of lives through policy, McCarthy may have something to teach the legislator who shares his name about retirement.

He’s found a sense of purpose in collaborating with his New Haven neighbors across generations, from all over the world, to make the lives of people struggling to make ends meet a little bit easier. 

“I do find it fun,” he said with a grin.