Pat McCrory

Patrick Lloyd McCrory is an American politician, businessman, and radio host. He served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009.

While serving as mayor of Charlotte, McCrory also served on the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2002 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He was the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina in the 2008 general election but was defeated by Lieutenant Governor Bev Perdue, the Democratic nominee. In the 2012 gubernatorial election, McCrory ran again as the Republican nominee and won with 55 percent of the vote. He became the first Mayor of Charlotte to win the state’s highest office and the first Republican to win the governorship of North Carolina since 1988.

During his tenure as governor, McCrory signed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (“HB2”), also known as the transgender bathroom bill, in 2016. This law restricted local governing bodies from establishing their own anti-discrimination statutes and required individuals to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. The law faced legal challenges from the United States Department of Justice and private citizens, and many corporations expressed opposition to its provisions limiting protections for LGBT individuals. Economists estimated that HB2 had a negative impact on the state’s GDP, amounting to approximately $450 to $630 million, or 0.1% of the state’s annual gross domestic product. HB2 was partially repealed in March 2017 after McCrory’s reelection loss in 2016.

McCrory ran for a second term as North Carolina’s governor in the 2016 gubernatorial election but narrowly lost to Democrat Roy Cooper, the state’s Attorney General. In 2022, he ran for the U.S. Senate but lost in the Republican primary to U.S. Representative Ted Budd.