Patrick Timothy McHenry (born October 22, 1975) is the

U.S. 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 c ...

for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes the cities of

Hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

and Mooresville. McHenry was a member of the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North ...

for a single term. McHenry served as a House Republican chief deputy whip from 2014 to 2019, and has been the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee since 2019.

Early life, education, and career

McHenry was born in

Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 20 ...

. He grew up in suburban Gastonia, the son of the owner of the Dixie Lawn Care Company, and attended Ashbrook High School. A Roman Catholic, he was the youngest of five children. McHenry attended

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

before transferring to

Belmont Abbey College Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. ...

. At Belmont, he founded the school's College Republican chapter, then became chair of the North Carolina Federation of

College Republicans College Republicans are college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States. Many members belong to the organization College Republican National Committee (CRNC), College Republicans United (CRU), or various in ...

and treasurer of the

College Republican National Committee The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is a national organization for College Republicans — college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States. The organization is known as an active recruiting tool ...

. In 1998, while a junior in college, McHenry ran for the

. He won the Republican primary but lost the general election. After earning a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in 1999, McHenry worked for the media consulting firm DCI/New Media, in Washington, D.C. He was involved in

Rick Lazio Enrico Anthony Lazio (; born March 13, 1958) is an American attorney and former four-term U.S. Representative from the State of New York. A Long Island native, Lazio became well-known during his bid for U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate elec ...

's campaign in the

2000 United States Senate election in New York In the United States Senate election held in the State of New York on November 7, 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then First Lady of the United States and the first First Lady to run for political office, defeated U.S. Representative Rick Lazio ...

; his main project was running a Web site, NotHillary.com. In 2012, he received an honorary M.B.A. in entrepreneurship from Yorktown University.

Early political career

In mid-2000,

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...

hired McHenry to be the National Coalition Director for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's 2000 presidential campaign. In late 2000 and early 2001, he was a volunteer coordinator for Bush's inaugural committee. After working for six months in 2001 as a special assistant to

Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 18th United States secretary of transportation in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021, ...

, the

United States Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...

, McHenry returned to North Carolina and ran again for the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Carolin ...

, winning in the 2002 election. George W

A resident of

Denver, North Carolina Denver, formerly known as Dry Pond, is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,309. Known as “Dry Pond” until 1873, it was re ...

, McHenry represented the state's 109th House district, including constituents in

Gaston County Gaston County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 227,943. The county seat is Gastonia. Dallas served as the original county seat from 1846 until 1911. Gaston County is included in the ...

, for the 2003–04 session. He sat on the House Appropriations Committee.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...

(Ranking Member) ** As a Ranking Member of the whole committee, McHenry serves as an ''ex officio'' member of all subcommittees. *

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

** Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives ** Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs (Chair)

Caucus memberships

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 NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus The Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus, a United States Congress caucus, works to improve the 9-1-1 phone system and emergency response systems.youngest member of the

110th United States Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

; 27-year-old

Aaron Schock Aaron Jon Schock (born May 28, 1981) is an American former politician who was Republican U.S. Representative for from 2009 until 2015. The district is based in Peoria and includes part of Springfield. He was the first member of the U.S. Cong ...

of Illinois took office in the

111th United States Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

in January 2009. He is a deputy whip and vice chair of finance for the

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Republican caucuses of the House and ...

's executive committee.

Tenure

"Two-bit" security guard comment

McHenry stirred controversy with remarks on April 1, 2008, regarding a trip to Iraq. Speaking to 150 Republicans attending the Lincoln County GOP Dinner, he called a contractor, reported first by blogs as a "U.S. soldier" – performing security duties in Iraq "a two-bit security guard" because the contractor denied McHenry access to a gym.

We spent the night in the
Green Zone The Green Zone ( ar, المنطقة الخضراء, translit=al-minṭaqah al-ḫaḍrā) is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It was a area in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental ...
, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam's palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early – not that I make this a great habit – but I went to the gym because I just couldn't sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn't let me in. Said I didn't have the correct credentials. It's 5:00 in the morning. I haven't had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, "I want to see your supervisor." Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn't happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn't need to work out anyway.

He later apologized, saying, "it was a poor choice of words."

Baghdad video

McHenry was the subject of discussion regarding a video posted on his congressional campaign website that featured him in the

Green Zone The Green Zone ( ar, المنطقة الخضراء, translit=al-minṭaqah al-ḫaḍrā) is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It was a area in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, pointing out landmarks and destruction after missile attacks. Veteran's affairs blog ''VetVoice'' posted a scathing attack, claiming that McHenry's video violated

Operational Security Operations security (OPSEC) is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, a ...

. McHenry later removed the video after discussing the information with

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...

, which requested he not place the video back online. Lance Sigmon, McHenry's opponent, later called a press conference to demand an investigation of the video's effect on Green Zone Troops. Sigmon attacked McHenry in a campaign ad about this controversy, prompting McHenry to threaten legal action, claiming the ad was false.

Use of PAC funds

On April 16, 2008, ''

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of ...

'' reported that McHenry used funds from his political action committee (PAC), "More Conservatives", to fund the defense of former aide Michael Aaron Lay's

voter fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

charges incurred during McHenry's 2004 race. McHenry gave Lay $20,000 to pay legal bills on voter fraud charges brought while Lay worked for him. These expenses were labeled a "Legal Expense Donation", according to

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Camp ...

reports. Lay agreed to a

deferred prosecution agreement A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which is very similar to a non-prosecution agreement (NPA), is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain r ...

, which stipulated he complete 100 hours of community service and pay $240.50 in court fees and $250 in community service fees to have the charges dismissed. An employee of the 2004 campaign, Lay lived in McHenry's home in Cherryville, which also served as the campaign headquarters during the 2004 election, and was indicted for voter fraud in McHenry's election, allegedly voting illegally in two separate instances. In response, McHenry claimed the case was part of a "three-year smear campaign" by District Attorney Locke Bell, despite Bell fund-raising for McHenry in previous elections.

Countrywide donations

OpenSecrets' Capital Eye found evidence that McHenry had been taking money from

Countrywide Financial Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estate ...

, a company involved in the

subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the coll ...

. McHenry took $5,500 from Countrywide's PAC, and served in an investigation into

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

payout fraud, of which one of the target companies was Countrywide Financial itself.

Elizabeth Warren

On May 24, 2011,

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

, appointed by

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

to oversee the development of the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), attended a House subcommittee meeting chaired by McHenry, who invited her because he felt she had given misleading testimony during another hearing. Earlier that day, McHenry had appeared on CNBC and accused Warren of lying to Congress about her involvement in government inquiries into mortgage servicing. The meeting had several late and last-minute changes, so Warren altered her schedule to accommodate the chair's request. Around 2:15 pm, McHenry called for a temporary recess to partake in a floor vote. In response, Warren indicated that McHenry's staff had agreed to the 2:15 pm closing time to allow her ample time to attend another meeting. McHenry replied, "You had no agreement. … You're making this up, Ms. Warren. This is not the case." As Warren and some in the audience reacted with surprise, Representative

Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951October 17, 2019) was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecess ...

interjected, "Mr. Chairman … I'm trying to be cordial here, but you just accused the lady of lying. I think you need to clear this up with your staff." The CFPB confirmed the agreement, but McHenry refused to apologize for his remarks to Warren. The '' Hickory Daily Record'', the largest paper in McHenry's district, called for McHenry to apologize, saying that it was "unacceptable for any member of Congress, especially a subcommittee chairman" to treat a witness in the manner in which he treated Warren.

Payday lenders

McHenry supported a 2020 rule change by the Trump administration whereby payday lenders would no longer have to check whether prospective borrowers can afford to repay high-interest loans.

2020 presidential election

McHenry did not join the majority of Republican members of Congress who sided with the Trump campaign's

attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, then-incumbent Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support and assistance from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of h ...

. He voted in favor of certifying both Arizona's and Pennsylvania's votes in the

2021 United States Electoral College vote count The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 117th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6–7, 2021, was the final step to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the ...

Political campaigns

2004

In 2004, after one term in the North Carolina General Assembly, McHenry ran for Congress in the 10th Congressional district when nine-term incumbent

Cass Ballenger Thomas Cass Ballenger (December 6, 1926 – February 18, 2015) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented North Carolina's 10th Congressional district, centered in North Carolina's foothills, in the United States House of Represen ...

retired. McHenry faced a heavily contested primary and bested his closest opponent,

Catawba County Catawba County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,610. Its county seat is Newton, and its largest city is Hickory. The county is part of the Hickory– Lenoir– Morganton, NC Metropo ...

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transl ...

David Huffman, in a runoff by only 85 votes. In the general election, McHenry won 64% of the popular vote, defeating Democrat Anne Fischer. It was generally thought McHenry's victory in the primary runoff was

tantamount to election A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinati ...

in November: his district is considered North Carolina's most Republican district, having sent Republicans to represent it since 1963.

2006

In the 2006 election, McHenry defeated Democrat Richard Carsner with almost 62% of the vote.

2008

In 2008, McHenry defeated Lance Sigmon in the Republican primary with 67% of the vote, and faced Democrat Daniel Johnson in the general election. Johnson was considered the strongest and best-funded Democrat to run in the district in over 20 years. In part because of this, the

Cook Political Report ''The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter'' is an American online newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the U.S. Presidency, the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and U.S. governors' offices. Se ...

moved the race from "Safe Republican" to "Likely Republican." This meant that in

Charlie Cook Charles Edward Cook Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends. Cook writes election forecasts and rankings in the publication he founded, ''The Cook Political Report'' ...

's opinion, while McHenry still had a considerable advantage, a victory by Johnson could not be ruled out. Shortly after the Cook Political Report's update,

Stuart Rothenberg Stuart Rothenberg is an American editor, publisher, and political analyst. He is best known for his biweekly political newsletter ''The Rothenberg Political Report'', now known as ''Inside Elections''. He was also a regular columnist at ''Roll C ...

of the

Rothenberg Political Report Stuart Rothenberg is an American editor, publisher, and political analyst. He is best known for his biweekly political newsletter ''The Rothenberg Political Report'', now known as ''Inside Elections''. He was also a regular columnist at ''Roll Ca ...

, also a nonpartisan analysis of American politics and elections, addressed the race and indicated his opinion that an upset was unlikely. McHenry defeated Johnson, 58% to 42%.

2010

McHenry defeated Republicans Vance Patterson, Scott Keadle, and David Michael Boldon with 63.09% of the vote to win the primary. He defeated Democrat Jeff Gregory with 71.18% of the vote in the general election.

2012

McHenry defeated Ken Fortenberry and Don Peterson with 72.54% of the vote in the primary. He defeated Democrat Patsy Keever in the general election with 56.99% of the vote.

2014

McHenry defeated Richard Lynch in the primary with 78.04% of the vote. He defeated Democrat Tate MacQueen with 61.02% of the vote in the general election.

2016

McHenry defeated Jeff Gregory, Jeffrey Baker, and Albert Lee Wiley Jr. with 78.42% of the vote in the primary. He defeated Democrat Andy Millard with 63.14% of the vote in the general election.

2018

McHenry defeated a host of fellow Republicans in the primary with 70.72% of the vote. He defeated Democrat David Wilson Brown with 59.29% percent of the vote in the general election.

2020

McHenry defeated David Johnson and Ralf Walters in the primary with 71.67% of the vote. He defeated Democrat David Parker with 68.91% of the vote in the general election.

References

External links

Congressman Patrick McHenry
official U.S. House website
Patrick McHenry for Congress
* * *

at OurCampaigns.com , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McHenry, Patrick 1975 births 21st-century American politicians Belmont Abbey College alumni College Republicans Living people Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina State University alumni People from Cherryville, North Carolina People from Gastonia, North Carolina Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina