Patrick T. McHenry

Patrick Timothy McHenry (born October 22, 1975) is an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from North Carolina from 2005 to 2025. He represented North Carolina’s 10th congressional district, which includes the communities of Hickory and Mooresville, for ten consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives. During his tenure, he became a prominent figure in House Republican leadership, serving as House Republican chief deputy whip, ranking member and later chair of the House Financial Services Committee, and briefly as Speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives following the removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023. He was also recognized as the dean of North Carolina’s congressional delegation, a distinction he shared with Representative Virginia Foxx.

McHenry was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, and grew up in suburban Gastonia as the youngest of five children in a Roman Catholic family. His father owned the Dixie Lawn Care Company, and McHenry attended Ashbrook High School in Gastonia. After high school, he enrolled at North Carolina State University before transferring to Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. At Belmont Abbey, he became deeply involved in Republican politics, founding the school’s College Republican chapter, serving as chair of the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans, and later as treasurer of the College Republican National Committee. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Belmont Abbey College in 1999. In 2012, he received an honorary M.B.A. in entrepreneurship from the now-closed Yorktown University.

McHenry’s political career began while he was still in college. In 1998, as a junior, he ran for the North Carolina House of Representatives, winning the Republican primary but losing the general election. After graduating in 1999, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the media consulting firm DCI/New Media. In that role, he was involved in Rick Lazio’s 2000 U.S. Senate campaign in New York, where one of his principal projects was running the website NotHillary.com, aimed at opposing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy. In mid-2000, he joined George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign when Karl Rove hired him as national coalition director. Following the election, he served as a volunteer coordinator for Bush’s inaugural committee in late 2000 and early 2001. He then worked for about six months in 2001 as a special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao before returning to North Carolina to seek elective office again.

In 2002, McHenry successfully ran for the North Carolina General Assembly and was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives. A resident of Denver, North Carolina, he represented the state’s 109th House district, which included constituents in Gaston County, during the 2003–2004 legislative session. In the state House, he served on the House Appropriations Committee. After one term in the North Carolina House of Representatives, he sought federal office and ran for Congress in 2004. At age 29, upon taking office in January 2005 as a member of the 109th United States Congress, he was the youngest member of that Congress. Early in his congressional career, he served as a deputy whip and as vice chair of finance for the National Republican Congressional Committee’s executive committee, and he became known on Capitol Hill for his distinctive preference for wearing bow ties.

McHenry served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina’s 10th congressional district from January 3, 2005, to January 3, 2025, a period that encompassed ten terms in office and significant developments in American political and economic life. Throughout his congressional career, he participated in the legislative process on a wide range of issues and represented the interests of his constituents in western North Carolina. He served on the Committee on Financial Services, eventually becoming its ranking member from 2019 to 2023 and its chair from 2023 to 2025. As chair of the full committee, he served as an ex officio member of all its subcommittees. He also served on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, including the Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives, and he chaired the Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs. From 2014 to 2019, McHenry was House Republican chief deputy whip, a key leadership position responsible for helping manage floor strategy and party discipline.

McHenry’s congressional tenure included several high-profile controversies and policy positions. In April 2008, he drew attention for a video posted on his campaign website showing him in Baghdad’s Green Zone pointing out landmarks and damage from missile attacks; the veterans’ affairs blog VetVoice criticized the video as a potential violation of operational security. After consultations with the Pentagon, which requested that the video not be reposted, McHenry removed it. That same month, Roll Call reported that he used funds from his political action committee, “More Conservatives,” to provide $20,000 for legal expenses for former aide Michael Aaron Lay, who faced voter fraud charges stemming from McHenry’s 2004 congressional race. Lay, who had lived in McHenry’s Cherryville home, which also served as campaign headquarters, entered a deferred prosecution agreement requiring community service and fees in exchange for dismissal of the charges. McHenry characterized the prosecution as part of a “three-year smear campaign” by District Attorney Locke Bell, despite Bell’s prior fundraising support for him. In May 2011, as a subcommittee chair, McHenry clashed publicly with Elizabeth Warren, then overseeing the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, during a House hearing. After Warren referenced a prearranged end time for her testimony, McHenry responded, “You had no agreement. You’re making this up, Ms. Warren,” prompting criticism from Representative Elijah Cummings and others. The CFPB confirmed Warren’s account, and the Hickory Daily Record, the largest newspaper in McHenry’s district, called on him to apologize for his treatment of her; McHenry declined to do so.

As a senior Republican on financial policy, McHenry took notable positions on regulatory matters. He supported a 2020 rule change by the Trump administration that eased requirements on payday lenders, allowing them to extend high-interest loans without having to verify that prospective borrowers could afford to repay them. During the aftermath of the 2020 United States presidential election, McHenry did not join the majority of Republican members of Congress who supported efforts by the Trump campaign to overturn the election results. In the joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes on January 6–7, 2021, he voted to certify the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania, thereby recognizing Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the duly elected president.

McHenry’s role in House leadership reached a peak in 2023. On October 3, 2023, following the successful motion to vacate that removed Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, McHenry was designated Speaker pro tempore under a succession list maintained by the Speaker. In that capacity, he presided over the House during a tumultuous three-week period while Republicans sought a new Speaker. During his tenure as Speaker pro tempore, he ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vacate a private office in the U.S. Capitol building, and the following day, former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was also directed to vacate his Capitol “hideaway” office. McHenry served as Speaker pro tempore until October 25, 2023, when Representative Mike Johnson was elected Speaker. In December 2023, after having initially announced in October that he would seek an eleventh term following the speakership elections, McHenry reversed course and announced on December 5, 2023, that he would not run for reelection in 2024, bringing to a close his two decades of continuous service in Congress when his term ended in January 2025.

Throughout his time in office, McHenry resided in Denver, North Carolina, while maintaining strong ties to his native Gaston County and the broader 10th District. His twenty-year congressional career, combined with his earlier service in the North Carolina House of Representatives, made him one of the most experienced Republican lawmakers from his state, and his shared status as dean of the North Carolina delegation with Virginia Foxx reflected his seniority and influence within the state’s congressional contingent.