FILE - Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters hours after he was ousted as Speaker of the House, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington. McCarthy says he's resigning from his congressional seat in California two months after his historic ouster as House speaker. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that he will be leaving Congress at the end of the month to pursue other interests.

“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy wrote in the op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.”

McCarthy, along with the entire House of Representatives, is still a year away from his term expiring but has decided to “retire” at the age of 58. The news comes two months after McCarthy became the first House Speaker to ever be removed from the position.

McCarthy was eventually succeeded by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), a stringent Christian who opposes same-sex marriage and holds questionable beliefs about the separation of church and state.