Patrick McHenry

Patrick Timothy McHenry (born October 22, 1975) is an American politician currently serving as U.S. representative for NC's 10th congressional district since 2005, which includes the communities of Hickory and Mooresville.

He is also chair of the House Financial Services Committee since 2023.

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.

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.

In mid-2000, Karl Rove hired McHenry to be the national coalition director for George W. Bush'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, the United States Secretary of Labor, McHenry returned to North Carolina and ran again for the North Carolina General Assembly, winning in the 2002 election.

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.

McHenry is known on Capitol Hill for his preference for bow ties.

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.

McHenry was the subject of discussion in April 2008, regarding a video posted on his congressional campaign website that featured him in the Green Zone in Baghdad, pointing out landmarks and destruction after missile attacks.

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.

Sigmon attacked McHenry in a campaign ad about this controversy, prompting McHenry to threaten legal action, claiming the ad was false.

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.

These expenses were labeled a "Legal Expense Donation", according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Lay agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement, 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.

At age 29, McHenry was the youngest member of the 109th United States Congress; 27-year-old Aaron Schock of Illinois took office in the 111th United States Congress in January 2009.

He is a deputy whip and vice chair of finance for the National Republican Congressional Committee's executive committee.

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."

In 2012, he received an honorary M.B.A. in entrepreneurship from the now-closed Yorktown University.

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, of which he is now chair.

McHenry acted as Speaker pro tempore of the House for 22 days, from October 3, 2023, to October 25, 2023, following the removal of Kevin McCarthy via a motion to vacate.

McHenry was born in Gastonia, North Carolina.

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 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.