#Patrick McHenry, ex-Speaker pro tempore, to retire at end of term

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chair of the Financial Services Committee who memorably served as the Speaker pro tempore after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was unseated, said Tuesday he will retire at the end of this Congress.

The announcement puts a bookend on McHenry’s nearly two-decade tenure in Congress that this year put him at the center of attention during the McCarthy drama. McHenry was generally applauded by members on both sides of the aisle for how he handled that situation, and there was talk of whether he’d become Speaker himself.

“I will be retiring from Congress at the end of my current term,” McHenry wrote in a statement. “This is not a decision I come to lightly, but I believe there is a season for everything and—for me—this season has come to an end.”

McHenry’s announcement is a reversal from late October, when the North Carolina Republican said he would run for re-election in the state’s newly drawn 10th congressional District.

DEVELOPING.