Patrick McHenry

Patrick Timothy McHenry (born October 22, 1975) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , which includes the communities of Hickory and Mooresville, from 2005 to 2025. He also chaired the House Financial Services Committee from 2023 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for one term before being elected to Congress.

McHenry served as a House Republican chief deputy whip from 2014 to 2019 and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee from 2019 to 2023. McHenry acted as Speaker pro tempore of the House for 22 days following the removal of Kevin McCarthy via a motion to vacate. and attended Ashbrook High School. A Roman Catholic, he was the youngest of five children.

McHenry attended North Carolina State University before transferring to Belmont Abbey College. At Belmont, he founded the school's College Republican chapter, then became chair of the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans and treasurer of the College Republican National Committee.

In 1998, while a junior in college, McHenry ran for the North Carolina House of Representatives. He won the Republican primary but lost the general election.

After earning a B.A. in history in 1999, McHenry worked for the media consulting firm DCI/New Media in Washington, D.C. He was involved in Rick Lazio's campaign in the 2000 United States Senate election in New York; his main project was running a Web site, NotHillary.com.

Early political career In mid-2000, Karl Rove hired McHenry to be the national coalition director for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.

A resident of Denver, North Carolina, McHenry represented the state's 109th House district, including constituents in Gaston County, for the 2003–04 session. He sat on the House Appropriations Committee.

U.S. House of Representatives

Tenure

At age 29, McHenry was the youngest member of the 109th United States Congress. He was a deputy whip and vice chair of finance for the National Republican Congressional Committee's executive committee. McHenry was known on Capitol Hill for his preference for bow ties. Veterans' affairs blog VetVoice posted a scathing attack, claiming the video violated operations security. McHenry later removed the video after discussing the information with the Pentagon, 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.

Use of PAC funds On April 16, 2008, Roll Call reported that McHenry used funds from his political action committee, "More Conservatives", to fund the defense of former aide Michael Aaron Lay's voter fraud charges incurred during McHenry's 2004 race. McHenry gave Lay $20,000 to pay legal bills on charges brought while Lay worked for him. 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.

Elizabeth Warren On May 24, 2011, Elizabeth Warren, appointed by President Obama 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 his request. Around 2:15 p.m., 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 p.m. 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 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. He voted to certify Arizona's and Pennsylvania's votes in the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count.

Speaker pro tempore

On October 3, 2023, McHenry was appointed as Speaker pro tempore of the United States House of Representatives, after a successful motion to vacate led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy from the speakership. Subsequently, he ordered that former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former majority leader Steny Hoyer vacate their Capitol Hill hideaway office. McHenry served as Speaker pro tempore until October 25, when Mike Johnson was elected as Speaker.

On December 5, 2023, McHenry announced that he would not seek reelection in 2024. McHenry had previously announced running for reelection for an 11th term in October following the elections for a new speaker in the House.

Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services (Chair) As Chair of the whole committee, McHenry served as an ex officio member of all subcommittees. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 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 Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus Congressional Taiwan Caucus

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 retired. McHenry faced a heavily contested primary and bested his closest opponent, Catawba County sheriff 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 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 moved the race from "Safe Republican" to "Likely Republican." This meant that in Charlie Cook'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 of the Rothenberg Political Report, 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.

2022

McHenry defeated five opponents in the primary with 68.1% of the vote.

Personal life McHenry has been married to Giulia Cangiano since 2010. They live in Denver, North Carolina, and have three children.