‘Rather humble’: A look into the Speaker Pro Tempore’s Gastonia roots

GASTONIA, N.C. — Patrick McHenry made national headlines as the Speaker Pro Tempore after Kevin McCarthy was voted out by the House of Representatives.

But to some in Gastonia, he’s a familiar local.

McHenry, 47, represents North Carolina’s tenth district, which includes his hometown of Gastonia. Channel 9′s Ken Lemon talked to some people who grew up with and around McHenry.

Before he led the House amid a heated political climate, Patrick McHenry got his start in public service 19 years ago as Senior Class President at Ashbrook High School.

His former chorus teacher, Trip McGill, said he was a team player who led by example.

“He was rather humble in my class and just enjoyed being in the chorus class,” McGill recalled. “He was always on task.”

Jonathan Fletcher was 12 years old when he volunteered to hope McHenry’s for campaign in 2005 and stuck with McHenry for years. Now, Fletcher is a Republican Party Chairman.

He said he’s always looked up to McHenry, claiming he never liked the spotlight.

“We are super proud to have a boy from Gastonia be our, hopefully, be our permanent speaker, although he doesn’t want that,” Fletcher said.

McHenry’s family has a farm supply store in Kings Mountain, and he often visits when he is in the district.

That’s where he connected with the State Speaker of House Tim Moore.

Moore and McHenry joined the State House together in 2002.

Moore told Lemon he watched the turmoil in Washington play out weeks ago and said something prophetic to a friend.

“I said it wouldn’t surprise me if McHenry became the acting speaker. I had no inside way of knowing that then when he was, I was like wow,” said Moore.

All in all, Lemon found that folks he spoke with were proud to see someone from Gastonia make it this far. McHenry was first elected to Congress at 29 years old in 2004.

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