Patrick McHenry

On May 29, 2014, McHenry called for Eric Shinseki, the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary, to resign. This was due to "revelations of mismanagement and mistreatment at VA facilities in Phoenix and across the country."

We spent the night in the Green Zone, 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.

The House passed two bills sponsored by Congressman McHenry in 2011. The first terminated the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The second was the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, commonly referred to as Crowdfunding and was introduced to foster relationships between investors and entrepreneurs. Specifically, it permits crowdfunding issuances that offer an equity stake (securities) to investors. In 2012, McHenry's Entrepreneur Access to Capital bill was integrated into the larger JOBS Act (H.R. 3606), which was passed by the House on March 8, 2012. The bill was also passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Obama on April 5, 2012.

McHenry easily defeated Republican primary challengers Ken Fortenberry and Don Peterson in May 2012 with 73% of the vote in the redrawn 10th District.

Since 2011, McHenry has been Chairman of the Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services, and Bailouts of Private and Public Programs on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In this capacity he has held hearings on municipal bankruptcies and bailouts and the future of TARP.

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.

On March 2, 2010, McHenry proposed new legislation, H.R. 4705, that would redesign the face of the $50 bill to include the likeness of the 40th President, Ronald Reagan.

At age 33, McHenry was the youngest member of the 110th United States Congress; however, 27-year-old Aaron Schock of Illinois took office in the 111th United States Congress in January 2009.

In 2008, McHenry opposed H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act (a bill that sought to place a moratorium on enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act while the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve defined "unlawful Internet gambling").

McHenry stirred further controversy with his 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 as "a two-bit security guard" because the contractor denied McHenry access to a gym.

On April 16, 2008, Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call revealed 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 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 as "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 $250.00 in community service fees to have the charges dismissed. Lay, an employee of the 2004 campaign, lived in McHenry's home in Cherryville which also served as the campaign headquarters during the 2004 election, was indicted for voter fraud in McHenry's election, allegedly voted illegally in two separate instances. McHenry, in response, claimed the case was part of a "three-year smear campaign" by District Attorney Locke Bell, despite Locke Bell fund raising for McHenry in previous elections.

In 2008, McHenry defeated Lance Sigmon in the Republican primary, winning 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 is unlikely. McHenry won the 2008 election, 58% to 42%.

McHenry authored the Independence Prize Act of 2007 (H.R. 2867), which would authorize a prize of up to $1 billion to an American company or individual who invented a transformative source of energy to replace fossil fuels. McHenry also co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation designed to open drilling for oil in the outer continental shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as increased use of nuclear and coal pollution mitigation energy.

In the 2006 election, McHenry defeated Democrat Richard Carsner, gaining almost 62% of the vote on the way to a second term representing the 10th District.

In 2004, after one term in the North Carolina General Assembly, McHenry successfully ran for Congress in the 10th Congressional district, which had come open when nine-term incumbent Cass Ballenger retired. McHenry faced a heavily contested primary in the 10th and bested his closest opponent, Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman, in a primary runoff by only 85 votes.

A resident of Denver, North Carolina, McHenry represented the state's 109th House district, including constituents in Gaston County, for the 2003–2004 session. While in the legislature, he sat on the House Appropriations Committee.

In mid-2000, McHenry was hired by Karl Rove to be the National Coalition Director for George W. Bush's successful 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 in Washington, D.C., McHenry returned to North Carolina and ran again for the North Carolina General Assembly, winning in the November 2002 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 against Hillary Clinton during the November 2000 United States Senate election in New York; his main project was running a Web site, NotHillary.com. In 2012, he received an Honorary M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship from Yorktown University.

His first run for public office was for the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1998, while still a junior in college; he won the primary but lost in the general election. The Democratic winner was the father of a high school classmate.

Patrick Timothy McHenry (born October 22, 1975) is the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 10th congressional district . He is a member of the Republican Party. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for a single term. The district includes the cities of Kings Mountain, Gastonia, Lincolnton, Shelby, and part of Asheville.

In the general election, McHenry won 64% of the popular vote, defeating Democrat Anne Fischer. However, 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.

In the 109th Congress, McHenry authored legislation which would increase the penalty for anyone who manufactured methamphetamine in the presence of a child. The legislation, H.R. 1616, was incorporated into legislation which passed the House and Senate. It was signed into law as part of the Patriot Act reauthorization in March, 2006.