The nation’s biggest water district may hire the former U.S. Speaker of the House on as an adviser, sources say.

Westlands Water District confirmed that preliminary discussions have taken place with Kevin McCarthy, a former Republican congressman from Bakersfield.

The agency, which has its headquarters in Fresno, does not have a contract with McCarthy, but the role would be an advisory one.

Attempts to reach McCarthy were unsuccessful.

McCarthy No Stranger to Water

McCarthy resigned from Congress in December 2023 after a small contingent of far-right Republican representatives voted to oust him as speaker. He later started a consulting firm, Watchtower Strategy.

A move to the world of water would not be major pivot for the lifelong Bakersfield resident. As a congressman, McCarthy helped secure funding to fix and raise Isabella and Schaefer dams in Kern County, SJV Water reported.

And, former Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham credited McCarthy and the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2023 for steering passage of the WIIN Act. Birmingham labeled the legislation as “the most meaningful water policy legislation related to California that was enacted in last 30 years.”

However, some environmental groups said McCarthy’s water policy goals focused too much on farming and exporting more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the detriment of fish and wildlife.

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Westlands is the largest public water district in the nation. It secures much of its water through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.