George Edward Bell Holding (born April 17, 1968) is an American politician, lawyer, and former federal prosecutor who is a former
United States Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
for
North Carolina's 2nd congressional district from 2017 to 2021. He previously represented
the 13th District from 2013 to 2017. Holding is a member of the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
* Republican Party (Liberia)
*Republican Party ...
. The district Holding represented stretched from just southwest of
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
to just east of
Rocky Mount. He served as the
United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for North Carolina's
Eastern District from 2006 to 2011.
Holding announced in December 2019 that he would not run for re-election in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
, after court-mandated redistricting made the district significantly more Democratic.
Early life, education, and early law career
The youngest of five children, Holding grew up in
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
. He is a member of the Holding family which founded the
First Citizens Bank in
Smithfield. He attended the
Groton School
Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...
in Massachusetts.
He attended
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...
, studying Classics. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, he studied law at
Wake Forest University School of Law
The Wake Forest University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Wake Forest University. Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University School of Law is a private American Bar Association (ABA) accredite ...
. During law school, he met his future wife, Lucy Herriott. They married after graduating and returned to Raleigh where Holding practiced law with
Kilpatrick Stockton
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton is an international law firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm has nineteen offices, including U.S. offices in California, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Washington State, and the District of ...
.
In 1998, Holding left the practice of law to serve as legislative counsel to U.S. Senator
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committe ...
in Washington. He was employed by Maupin Taylor, a Raleigh law firm, from 2001 to 2002. Holding joined the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2002, working under
Frank DeArmon Whitney. Under Whitney, the U.S. Attorney's office prosecuted a number of high-profile public corruption cases, including former N.C. Agriculture Commissioner
Meg Scott Phipps
Meg Scott Phipps is an American former politician who served as the Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of North Carolina from 2001 to 2003.
Early life
From Mebane, North Carolina, she is the daughter of former North Carolina governor Bob ...
, former House Speaker
Jim Black
Jim Black is an American jazz drummer who has performed with Tim Berne and Dave Douglas. He attended Berklee College of Music.
Career
His band AlasNoAxis includes Hilmar Jensson on electric guitar, Chris Speed on tenor saxophone and clari ...
and former U.S. Representative
Frank Ballance. Whitney left his position as U.S. Attorney when he became a judge for the
.
U.S. Attorney's office
On September 9, 2006, Holding was nominated by President
George W. Bush to succeed Frank Whitney as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. On September 13, 2006, the
U.S. Senate confirmed Holding's nomination by
voice vote
In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
. Holding remained as U.S. Attorney for two and a half years into the Obama administration in order to complete a number of political corruption cases.
[Josh Gerstein]
Ex-prosecutor George Holding defends John Edwards case
''Politico'' (June 13, 2012).
During Holding's tenure as U.S. Attorney, former North Carolina Governor
Mike Easley
Michael Francis Easley (born March 23, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first
governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony.
A member of ...
pleaded guilty to a campaign finance felony that followed a lengthy federal investigation. Holding oversaw the prosecution of former U.S. Senator
John Edwards on campaign-finance charges; in 2012, Edwards was acquitted on one count, and the
jury deadlocked on five other counts. The Justice Department decided not to retry Edwards on the counts that the jury deadlocked on.
[
During his tenure, Holding also oversaw the prosecution of ]Daniel Patrick Boyd
Daniel Patrick Boyd (born 1970, also known as Saifullah) is an American who in July 2009 was convicted for his participation in a jihadist terrorist cell in North Carolina.
Biography
Boyd graduated from T. C. Williams High School in Alexandr ...
and the Raleigh jihad group The Raleigh jihad group refers to seven men arrested on July 27, 2009 near Raleigh, North Carolina on charges of participating in a conspiracy to commit "violent jihad". An eighth man in the indictment, believed to be in Pakistan, was not arrested. ...
on charges including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2012
After his resignation as U.S. Attorney in 2011, Holding announced his candidacy for Congress in North Carolina's 13th congressional district
The thirteenth congressional district of North Carolina was re-established in 2002 after the state gained population in the 2000 United States census. Previously, the state had 13 districts from the first election following the 1810 census unti ...
. He was endorsed by multiple conservative business and civic leaders, including N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake and former U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth.
Holding won the Republican primary in May. He defeated former Raleigh Mayor Paul Coble
Paul Yelverton Coble (born October 19, 1953, in Raleigh, North Carolina) served one term as Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina from December 1999 to December 2001. Coble served on the Wake County Board of Commissioners from 2006 to 2014, and served ...
. In the general election, he won the seat with 57% of the vote.
2014
Holding was unopposed in the Republican primary for re-election. He won the general election against his Democratic challenger, Brenda Cleary, a registered nurse and former executive director of the North Carolina Center for Nursing, 57%-43%.
2016
Following court-ordered redistricting
Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distri ...
in 2016, a large portion of the 13th was merged into the neighboring 2nd district. Holding's home was located in the 4th district
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
under the new map, just outside the new 2nd's borders. However, congressional candidates are only required to live in the state they wish to represent. Holding decided to run in the 2nd district against the incumbent, fellow Republican Renee Ellmers
Renee Louise Ellmers ( Jacisin; born February 9, 1964) is an American registered nurse and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2017. She is a member of the Republican Party. Ellmers defeated seven-term Democratic incumb ...
, in the primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Works
...
. The newly drawn district encompassed outer portions of Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
, many of its northern and southern suburbs,[Brett Samuels]
GOP Rep. George Holding holds on to win reelection in North Carolina
''The Hill'' (November 7, 2018). along with parts of rural Harnett, Johnston, Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
*Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson R ...
, Nash, and Franklin counties.[Will Doran]
New campaign fundraising numbers give NC Democrats hope of flipping a US House seat
''News & Observer'' (October 22, 2019).
During the primary campaign, Holding was endorsed by the American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded o ...
and the anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respo ...
N.C. Values Coalition, and the Club for Growth and the Koch brothers
The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $115 billion). ...
' Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...
ran ads against Ellmers.[ Ellmers made much of the fact that Holding lived outside the 2nd district (six miles from the district's border), although the new district was actually geographically and demographically more similar to Holding's old 13th district than to Ellmers' old 2nd district. In the June 2016 primary, Holding defeated Ellmers, 53.4% to 23.6%, with a third candidate, ]Greg Brannon
Gregory J. Brannon (born August 17, 1960) is an American physician and political activist. A native of Los Angeles, California, Brannon is a graduate of the University of Southern California and Chicago Medical School. After completing his resid ...
, receiving 23.0% of the vote.
In the November 2016 general election, Holding defeated Democratic nominee John McNeil, receiving 56.7% to McNeil's 43.3%.
2018
In 2018, the Cook Political Report rated the congressional race in the 2nd district as "lean Republican."[ Holding won reelection with 51.3% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Linda Coleman, a former ]state representative
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United S ...
who received 45.8% of the vote.[North Carolina Election Results: Second House District]
''New York Times'' (January 28, 2019). Libertarian Party candidate Jeff Matemu received 2.9% of the vote.[ Coleman received more votes than Holding in the Wake County portion of the district (the district's most populous) but Holding led in the other five counties in the district.][ Outside groups spent at least $3.3 million on the competitive race.
]
2020
After a North Carolina state judge issued a preliminary injunction forbidding the use of the 2016 congressional map for the 2020 elections, the state legislature drew a new map. Holding's district was made significantly more Democratic than its predecessor.[ The old 2nd had covered most of northern and southern Wake County, as well as exurban areas south and east of the capital. The new 2nd was a compact district in southern Wake County, including almost all of Raleigh. Had it existed in 2016, ]Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
would have carried it with 60 percent of the vote; by comparison, Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
had carried the old 2nd with 53 percent of the vote. On paper, the new map turned the 2nd from a Republican-leaning district into one of the most Democratic white-majority districts in the South.
Even before the new map was issued, state and national Democrats viewed the 2nd as a potential pickup opportunity for Democrats due to the close 2018 contest. Three Democrats sought the congressional nomination.[ Soon after the new map was issued, former state representative and unsuccessful 2016 Senate candidate Deborah Ross entered the race for the redrawn 2nd. In December 2019, Holding announced he would retire at the end of his term, saying the new map was a factor in his decision.][ However, according to J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, Holding's fundraising had left much to be desired even before the new map was issued–a "tell-tale sign of retirement."
]
Tenure
During Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
's presidency, Holding voted in line with the president's stated position 90.5% of the time.[Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump: George Holding, Republican representative for North Carolina’s 2nd District]
''FiveThirtyEight
''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...
'' (last accessed November 3, 2019).
Holding opposes abortion, and during his 2016 Republican primary battle against Representative Renee Ellmers
Renee Louise Ellmers ( Jacisin; born February 9, 1964) is an American registered nurse and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2017. She is a member of the Republican Party. Ellmers defeated seven-term Democratic incumb ...
, Holding received the support of two major anti-abortion groups, the Susan B. Anthony List and the National Right to Life Committee. In 2017, Holding voted for legislation to ban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.[
Holding opposes the ]Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
(ACA or Obamacare) and supported the 2017 House Republican bill to repeal and replace the ACA. During his 2018 re-election campaign, Holding incorrectly claimed that "we’re all paying 100 percent more" on health insurance premium
Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...
s due to the ACA; in fact, only 2 to 5 percent of Americans were affected by premium increases related to the ACA's individual market, which is the smallest health insurance market.
On December 18, 2019, Holding voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump. Of the 195 Republicans who voted, all voted against both impeachment articles.
Committee assignments
Holding's committee assignments were as follows:
* 113th Congress (2013–15): Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...
; Judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
* 114th Congress
The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from Ja ...
(2015–17): Ways and Means
* 115th Congress
The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...
(2017–19): Ways and Means
* 116th Congress
The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on Janua ...
(2019–21): Ways and Means, Budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...
, Ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...
Caucus memberships
Holding was a member of the Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana.
Although the prima ...
, Congressional Western Caucus
The Congressional Western Caucus is a caucus within the United States House of Representatives composed of 62 members. Although it has historically been bipartisan, it is currently composed almost exclusively of Republicans (with the sole excepti ...
, International Conservation Caucus, and U.S.-Japan Caucus. Holding was the House Republican chair of the British-American Parliamentary Group, which maintained ties between the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
, and was co-chair of the Congressional U.K. Caucus; in theses roles, Holding had led congressional delegations to Britain and commented on Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
.
Personal life
George is married to Lucy Holding, who was born in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. They have four children.[Lynn Bonner & Anna Douglas]
Conservative bonafides at issue in 2nd District Republican primary
''News & Observer'' (May 21, 2016). In July 2022, he was awarded as Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to UK-US Relations.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holding, George
1968 births
21st-century American politicians
Living people
People from Raleigh, North Carolina
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina
United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of North Carolina
Wake Forest University alumni
Honorary Officers of the Order of the British Empire