Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of 2023, saying his “work is only getting started” in recruiting other Republicans to run for Congress.

McCarthy (R-Calif.), 58, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that 17 years after first running to represent California in the House, he had “decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways.”

“I’m an optimist. How could I not be? I’m the son of a firefighter. For 17 years I’ve served in the same congressional seat — the same office in which I was once denied an internship. Only in America,” he wrote.

“I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders.”

McCarthy’s departure will bring House Republicans’ majority down to two votes, following the expulsion of lying Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Dec. 1.

On Oct. 3, eight GOP lawmakers led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) voted with 208 Democrats to oust McCarthy, claiming that he had failed to uphold his side of a bargain he made with hard-right members to win the gavel back in January.

The accusation followed a bipartisan vote in the House to fund the government at current levels until Nov. 17 — with Gaetz also alleging McCarthy agreed to a “secret side deal” with President Biden over Ukraine aid.

McCarthy’s removal, the first in the lower chamber’s history, kicked off weeks of infighting in the Republican caucus as three successive candidates were put forward and failed to replace the ex-speaker.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) all failed in their bids for the gavel.

The fracas revealed deep tensions between moderates and conservatives in the Republican caucus, as holdout votes kept each speaker nominee from a path to victory in the House.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who announced on Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his term next year, was briefly installed as speaker pro tempore to preside over the conference votes, but stressed it was outside his authority to pass legislation in the interim.

The House GOP eventually coalesced around then-Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.), elevating him to the speaker’s chair a little more than three weeks after McCarthy was deposed.

After taking office, Johnson passed two funding bills that extended current federal spending until Jan. 19, 2024, and Feb. 2, 2024, respectively.

He also agreed to pass further military aid for Kyiv’s war effort against Russia, so long as border security measures are also passed by Congress.

McCarthy has repeatedly claimed that Gaetz chose to remove him because he declined while speaker to put to bed a House Ethics Committee probe into the Florida Republican.

The ethics inquiry concerns allegations that Gaetz –who has denied any such motivation for engineering McCarthy’s ouster — engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, campaign finance violations and may have taken bribes.

The allegations come as the hardline representative is reportedly considering a run for governor of the Sunshine State.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), a staunch McCarthy ally who continued to vote for the speaker on successive ballots after his removal, said in a statement that the California Republican had “encouraged [him] to run for Congress and has been an incredible advocate for our community and the nation.”

“Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a leader of conviction and I have been proud to stand alongside him,” Gimenez said. “We will miss you on the House Floor, my friend.”

Meanwhile, Gaetz took a victory lap, posting a one-word response on X to the news: “McLeavin.”

In a sentiment echoed by other McCarthy detractors, self-described “Memer of Congress” Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) shared an image to express dissatisfaction with Republicans’ razor-thin majority.

“Leaving the Republicans with a two-seat majority is his last elbow in the back to the party that put their future in his hands,” another GOP source told The Post, referencing a recent accusation from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the eight who voted to oust the speaker, that McCarthy elbowed him before a recent conference meeting.

McCarthy in his op-ed said his tenure may have seemed “out of fashion” to some in Washington, DC, but emphasized that he had done “the right thing” while leading the GOP majority for nine months.

“Even with slim margins in the House, we passed legislation to secure the border, achieve energy independence, reduce crime, hold government accountable and establish a Parents’ Bill of Rights. We did exactly what we said we would do,” he wrote.

“We reduced the deficit by more than $2 trillion, revamped work requirements for adults on the sidelines, cut red tape for critical domestic energy projects, and protected the full faith and credit of the U.S. We kept our government operating and our troops paid while wars broke out around the world.”

But in an apparent parting shot to the dysfunction of his caucus, the former speaker argued “[t]he challenges we face are more likely to be solved by innovation than legislation” as well as “everyday men and women who are raising families, showing up for work, volunteering, and pursuing the American Dream with passion and purpose.”

“I agree with President Reagan’s observation that ‘all great change in America starts at the dinner table.’ Despite the best attempts by special interest groups and the news media to divide us, I have seen the goodness of the American people,” McCarthy went on. “They are what will ultimately uphold the enduring values of our great nation. We all have a role to play in that effort.”

“I never could have imagined the journey when I first threw my hat into the ring. I go knowing I left it all on the field—as always, with a smile on my face,” he concluded. “And looking back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”