Pat McCrory

Early life, education and business career

McCrory was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Audrey Mona (Herzberg) and Rollin John McCrory. His family moved to North Carolina when he was a child. He was raised Presbyterian and his family attended First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro. He graduated in 1974 from Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, North Carolina. He attended Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he received degrees in Political Science and Education in 1978. McCrory was active in the Student Government Association and was part of a conservative backlash to the growing "hippie" culture at Catawba in the mid-1970s.

In 2001, McCrory gave the graduation keynote address at his alma mater, Catawba College. The college awarded him an honorary doctorate of legal letters. He currently serves as a member of Catawba College's Board of Trustees.

In January 2008, after 28 years with Duke Energy, he retired from the company to run full-time for governor. In January 2009, McCrory was named a partner with Charlotte-based McCrory & Company, a sales consulting firm. In January 2010, he was named a Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Charlotte-based law firm Moore & Van Allen PLLC. He is a 2014 Young Leader Alumni member of the American Swiss Foundation.

Charlotte City Council, 1989–1995

McCrory began his political career in Charlotte in 1989 when he was elected an At-Large City Councilman. He was re-elected in 1991 and 1993, and served as Mayor Pro Tem from 1993–1995.

Mayor of Charlotte, 1995–2009

In 1995, he was elected mayor of the city of Charlotte, succeeding Richard Vinroot, who ran unsuccessfully for the 1996 Republican gubernatorial nomination. At the age of 39, McCrory was the city's youngest mayor. McCrory gained a reputation as a very popular, affable mayor. In the 2007 mayoral election, he defeated seven-term Democratic state Rep. Beverly Earle, 61 to 39 percent.

McCrory announced in late 2008, shortly after his gubernatorial campaign, that he would not seek an eighth term. McCrory is the city of Charlotte's longest-serving mayor.

Transportation

McCrory helped develop Charlotte's 25-year transportation and land-use plan. Working closely with U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, McCrory made efforts to secure $200 million in federal funds for the city's new Lynx Light Rail system. The plan helped expand bus service in Charlotte as well as bringing light rail to the city. The light-rail line has been cited as McCrory's biggest achievement as mayor.

Despite criticism, light rail proved to be financially successful, and there are currently 15 stations in the system, which carries an average of 20,000 passengers per day (2009).

Economy

During McCrory's tenure (1995–2009), Charlotte's population grew by 20%, and the population of Uptown Charlotte increased to over 13,000 people. McCrory led the effort to recruit such companies as TIAA-CREF, General Dynamics Armament, The Westin Hotel, and Johnson & Wales University. The Charlotte Arena and the U.S. Whitewater Center were opened during his term. In 2005, Money magazine listed Charlotte in its Top 3 Best Places to Live and Reader's Digest named it one of the 20 Cleanest Cities in America.

National involvement and Homeland Security

McCrory has also been involved in many national organizations, having served as president of the Republican Mayors and Local Officials (RMLO) organization; chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) Committee for Housing and Community Development; six-term Chair of the USCM Environmental Committee; and founder and inaugural chairman of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition. McCrory was also the only elected official to serve on the national board of the Afterschool Alliance and was a featured Mayor in Harvard University's Faith-based Executive Session.

In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed McCrory to the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council alongside Mitt Romney, Sonny Perdue, and Lee H. Hamilton.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

As mayor, McCrory spearheaded the effort with local business leaders, local officials, and NASCAR teams to bring the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte. On March 6, 2006, Charlotte beat out Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Kansas City, and Richmond, Virginia, to be home to the Hall of Fame.

Awards and local involvement

McCrory established a Residential Tree Ordinance in 2004, which required developers to save 10% of the trees in every new residential development. He also established a Sidewalk Policy, which required sidewalks in every new subdivision and provided funding for sidewalks in neighborhoods without them, in order to encourage walking. He also worked to integrate bike lanes into the city's transportation policy, establishing 42 miles of bike lanes throughout the city.

In 2003, McCrory received the national Homeownership Hero Award, recognizing his work in leading Charlotte to have one of the highest homeownership rates in the country.

McCrory founded the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and has personally served as a mentor to two youths. In 2005, Charlotte was named as one of the '100 Best Communities for Youth' by America's Promise. The Mayor's Mentoring Alliance has grown to include 40 youth-serving and mentoring organizations, among them Time Warner Cable's "Time To Read" program. An additional partnership with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department initiated "Gang of One," an after-school gang-prevention and intervention program that works to keep children from joining gangs or helps lead them away from gang life.

McCrory has served as the honorary chair for the Charlotte chapter of the Alzheimer's Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation.

2008 campaign

McCrory reportedly commissioned a poll to test the waters for a run for governor in November 2007, shortly after his seventh mayoral re-election victory, but well after other Republican gubernatorial candidates had begun campaigning. A 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll had McCrory leading both major Democratic candidates, Bev Perdue and Richard H. Moore, by three points each.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported on January 9, 2008, that McCrory had filed the necessary paperwork with the State Board of Elections to run for governor. He announced his candidacy in his hometown of Jamestown on January 15, 2008.

In the primary election on May 6, 2008, McCrory defeated four opponents, including State Senator Fred Smith, to win the Republican nomination for governor. During the primary, McCrory was criticized for lacking conservative credentials and for the high taxes and large debt accrued in Charlotte while he was mayor. McCrory countered with negative ads against his foremost opponent, Sen. Fred Smith, inaccurately accusing Smith of running up state debt while in the legislature.

In the general election, Democratic lieutenant governor Bev Perdue raised $5.6 million and ran attack ads against McCrory, criticizing him on various issues. McCrory later referred to the ads as "shameless, inaccurate, and negative". Perdue and McCrory remained close, with the two often polling in a statistical tie in what was the tightest race for governor in the nation. The McCrory campaign spent $3.4 million, and an independent expenditure funded by the Republican Governor's association assisted McCrory with a further $6.2 million in spending for attack ads on Perdue. Perdue ran slightly behind her opponent in polls released the week before the election. Pundits speculated that Perdue was hurt by belonging to the same party as the increasingly unpopular incumbent Governor Mike Easley, and by McCrory's efforts to tag her as part of corruption in Raleigh. Consultants also mentioned Perdue's "difficulty of being the candidate of continuity in a change election."

In October 2008, McCrory received the endorsement of most major newspapers in the state, which typically endorse Democrats. McCrory's candidacy for governor was endorsed by the Raleigh News and Observer, the Charlotte Observer, the Greensboro News & Record, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the UNC-Chapel Hill Daily Tar Heel.

Even so, Perdue squeaked out a win with 2,146,083 votes (50.27%) to McCrory's 2,001,114 (46.88%), in what turned out to be the closest gubernatorial election in the United States in 2008. McCrory failed to win even in Charlotte, where he had been mayor for 14 years.

2009–2012 interim

Following his defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial election, McCrory announced that he would not seek a record eighth term as Charlotte mayor in 2009. Having retired from Duke Energy after 29 years of service in early 2008 to run for governor, McCrory decided to return to the private sector. He went on to work for his brother's consulting firm, and also joined the law firm of Moore Van Allen. McCrory also began to pave the way for a possible 2012 gubernatorial campaign by remaining active in the North Carolina Republican Party. He spoke at numerous GOP county and district conventions and dinners, as well as the 2009, 2010 & 2011 State GOP conventions. In 2010 he headlined a bus tour for Americans for Prosperity.

After being a centerpiece of the 2010 Republican takeover of the North Carolina Legislature, McCrory worked closely with Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis, both of whom hail from the Charlotte area and are close friends of McCrory's.

2012 campaign

Governor Bev Perdue declined to seek re-election in 2012. McCrory then announced his candidacy for governor on January 31, 2012. On May 8, 2012, he won the Republican primary with 83.40% of the vote. McCrory went on to defeat Democratic lieutenant governor Walter Dalton in the general election, 55%–43%. It is the largest margin of victory for a Republican in an open-seat race for governor since Reconstruction.

Issues

When asked in a debate what further abortion restrictions he would sign into law if elected, he answered, "None."

McCrory publicized his positions on the economy and education in two white papers. One was called "The North Carolina Comeback" and focused on economic recovery. In it he stated that he would work to get the unemployment rate below South Carolina's and also to restructure the North Carolina's tax codes.

The other paper, "A Passion for Education," advocated several areas for reform: more classroom technology, such as virtual courses and hand-held technology; teacher merit-pay systems; and expansion of charter schools. McCrory also suggested stopping social promotion of some students and creating a new method of grading schools.

Campaign finance

The Raleigh News & Observer reported that McCrory would declare adding $2.2 million in the second quarter, totaling $4.4 million available for campaign spending, with 98 percent of the donors from North Carolina. For 2012, the North Carolina Board of Elections required second-quarter campaign-finance reports to be filed by July 11. In the first-quarter campaign-finance reports, McCrory showed that his campaign added at least $1 million more to its bottom line than Dalton's campaign. In the first quarter McCrory reported outraising Dalton by more than $1 million. He also reported raising nearly $3 million more than Dalton for the election cycle to date. McCrory reported having $3.1 million cash on hand, and Dalton reported $670,356.14.

2016 campaign

McCrory faced Attorney General Roy Cooper in the hotly contested 2016 general election. On election night, the race was too close to call, with fewer than 5000 votes separating the candidates out of more than 4.6 million cast.

On November 10, 2016, McCrory's campaign set up a legal defense fund in anticipation of a legal battle and potential recount. The campaign has cited "grave concerns over potential irregularities" regarding 90,000 votes from Durham County.

After it has become apparent that he would not win, McCrory conceded the race to Cooper on December 5.

During a special session, after conceding defeat in the election, McCrory signed legislation into law that would reduce the power of North Carolina governorship. On December 30, 2016, a state judge temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, and a panel of judges extended the block on January 5, 2017.

Governor of North Carolina

McCrory took office on January 5, 2013, the first Republican Governor of the state since James G. Martin left office on January 9, 1993. His swearing-in gave the Republicans complete control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.

Legislation

McCrory's election marked the first time that Republicans controlled both houses of the General Assembly as well as the governorship since 1870. Since taking office, McCrory has signed into law a number of bills promoting conservative governance.

He signed legislation which made North Carolina the 8th state to cut unemployment benefits since the 2007 start of the Great Recession. In addition to cutting maximum weekly unemployment benefits by 35%, the state reduced the maximum number of weeks of assistance to between 12 and 20, down from 26. The cut prevents 170,000 North Carolinians from benefiting from federal emergency extended benefits, which require a minimum of 26 weeks of state support, but also allows the state's unemployment fund, which had become bankrupt over the course of the recession, to become solvent three years sooner. The move was criticized by some for passing up federal support and weakening the government safety net when the state had the nation's 5th-highest unemployment.

In March 2013, citing concerns about the sustainability of the program, McCrory signed a bill that opted the state out of the expanded Medicaid program of the Affordable Care Act of 2009, which would have provided healthcare coverage to 500,000 North Carolinians. He has also proposed managing Medicaid accounts, by enrolling patients in managed-care programs run by private companies.

In May 2013, McCrory signed a North Carolina adaptation of Caylee's Law after receiving unanimous consent in the General Assembly. Caylee's Law had been enacted by several state legislatures in response to the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial, which garnered national attention. The law makes a parent/caregiver who deliberately fails to report their child missing guilty of a Class I Felony, among other felonious acts such as concealing the death of a child under the new law.

McCrory signed into law a bill repealing the state's controversial Racial Justice Act of 2009. The law was unique in that it allowed inmates facing the death penalty to use broad statistics to challenge their sentences on the basis of alleged racial discrimination. Prior to repeal of the Racial Justice Act, nearly every death row inmate, regardless of race, used the law as a basis to file an appeal. The delays caused by those appeals still persist today. The state of North Carolina has not executed an inmate since 2006.

He signed legislation to require voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to vote, repeal same-day voter registration, and reduce the number of days of early voting. In July 2016, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the photo ID provisions, finding that they targeted African Americans "with almost surgical precision" and that the legislators had acted with "discriminatory intent" in enacting the strict election rules. McCrory has said the three-judge panel has a liberal makeup, and says that 33 states have enacted some form of voter ID requirement.

In July 2013, McCrory signed tax reform legislation that created a modified flat-tax system for the state by specifying a single income-tax rate and a larger standard deduction but eliminating the personal exemption. It also repealed North Carolina's estate tax.

In August 2013, McCrory signed into law the Regulatory Reform Act of 2013. The legislation, according to the bill, was "an act to improve and streamline the regulatory process in order to stimulate job creation, to eliminate unnecessary regulation, to make various other statutory changes, and to amend certain environmental and natural resource laws." The law requires all previous rules and regulations not mandated by federal law to be reviewed over ten years by the Rules Review Commission through a three-step process.

In June 2014, McCrory signed the Energy Modernization Act of 2014 into law. The bill allows hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in the state, and criminalizes the disclosure of fracking chemicals, lifting a 2012 moratorium that blocked fracking permits. "We remain intensely focused on creating good jobs, particularly in our rural areas," McCrory said. "We have watched and waited as other states moved forward with energy exploration, and it is finally our turn. This legislation will spur economic development at all levels of our economy, not just the energy sector." Once the state completes its regulations, the law will allow for permits to be issued without additional approval. The bill also criminalizes the disclosure of chemicals or substances used by oil and gas companies during the fracking process. The legislation also bans local governments from interfering with oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities.

Vetoes

McCrory issued his first veto as governor in August 2013, of a bill that would have required people applying for welfare benefits to pass a drug test. He later also vetoed a bill that extended from 90 days to nine months the amount of time that an employee could work without undergoing a background check in the E-Verify system. Both vetoes were overridden by the General Assembly in September 2013, meaning that both bills became law.

In June 2014, McCrory vetoed a bill because of a provision altering the makeup of the Division of Employment Security Board of Review.

On May 28, 2015, McCrory vetoed a bill that would have allowed magistrates with religious objections to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. The next day, McCrory vetoed a variation on an "ag-gag" bill. Both of these vetoes were overridden by the legislature.

Education

McCrory signed the largest education budgets in North Carolina history in 2013 and 2015. A number of education changes were included in the state budget enacted in 2013 and 2016. McCrory supports merit-based pay in some cases. McCrory entered office in 2013 with teacher pay ranked 47th in the nation, and by 2016, the state's ranking moved up 41st in the nation. McCrory signed the largest teacher pay raise in the nation in 2016, which led to average teacher pay rising to $50,000 per year. The rankings for year 2017 will account for the 2016 pay raises. Those yet-to-be-released rankings are expected to move North Carolina up several slots. School districts are authorized to give $500-per-year raises to up to 25% of teachers. Low-income students are now eligible to receive vouchers up to $4,200 toward the cost of attending private schools. Teacher tenure has been replaced with a contract system. State funding for Teach for America has been increased to $6 million.

In a nationally broadcast radio interview with conservative talk-show host William Bennett, McCrory made a series of comments on the future of higher education in North Carolina that generated controversy. McCrory stated that "some of the educational elite have taken over our education where we are offering courses that have no chance of getting people jobs," and later responded to a comment Bennett made on gender studies courses by saying: "That's a subsidized course. If you want to take gender studies, that's fine, go to a private school and take it. But I don't want to subsidize that if that's not going to get someone a job."

"Moral Mondays" protests

The bills signed into law by McCrory and proposed legislation have been the target of ongoing "Moral Monday" civil disobedience protests, organized in part by local religious leaders including William Barber II, head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. Cited reasons for the protests include legislation recently passed or proposed changes to Medicaid, changes to voting regulations, school vouchers, and tax reform. McCrory has criticized the protests as unlawful and a drain on state resources, and has declined to meet with them, later stating "outsiders are coming in and they're going to try to do to us what they did to Scott Walker in Wisconsin."

Abortion access

In July 2013, McCrory signed into law legislation which required abortion providers to meet the same standards as surgical centers, allowed health-care providers to decline to perform abortions, and prevented any public health-insurance policy from paying for abortions. Abortion-rights groups criticized McCrory, who had promised during his campaign that he would not sign new abortion restrictions. McCrory responded: "This law does not further limit access, and those who contend it does are more interested in politics than the health and safety of our citizens." WRAL stated that the legislation broke McCrory's campaign pledge.

Duke Energy

Following a February 2, 2014, coal-ash spill that was the third-largest of its kind in US history, the US Attorney's Office opened a grand-jury investigation into Duke Energy. McCrory had been an employee of Duke Energy for 28 years, and critics said his administration had intervened on Duke's behalf to settle lawsuits over environmental violations. The U.S. Attorney's office subpoenaed 23 officials of the McCrory administration and sought records of "investments, cash or other items of value" passed from Duke to McCrory administration officials, but produced charges only aimed at Duke Energy in February 2015. Duke Energy was fined $99,111 for leaks from ponds at two power plants; the amount was part of a deal made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' secretary, John E. Skvarla III.

On March 8, 2015, the McCrory administration fined Duke Energy $25 million for years of groundwater pollution, the largest fine for environmental damage ever imposed by the state. The second-largest fine ever imposed by the state was in 1986 for $5.7 million.

In August 2014, McCrory announced that he had previously owned more than $10,000 in Duke Energy stock and that he sold the stock after the coal-ash spill without disclosing the sale in state ethics filings. His lawyer stated that the mistake was based on the lawyer's misunderstanding of the timeframe covered by the earlier disclosures.

I-77 toll lane

Under McCrory, the NCDOT signed a 50-year contract with Cintra, a Spanish company, to add variable toll lanes to I-77 (a major, heavily congested trucking route and North-South corridor through the state) so as to provide a reliable travel speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) for those who pay the toll. The fee per mile will fluctuate in order to keep the toll lane from being over-crowded.

Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act

On March 23, 2016, McCrory signed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (commonly known as House Bill 2 or HB2). The law eliminates and forbids cities to re-establish anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people, and legislates that in government buildings, people may only use restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates, which prevents transgender people who do not or cannot alter their birth certificates from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity. More broadly, the law eliminates municipal anti-discrimination policies concerning race, gender, and veteran status or military service, and it prohibits municipalities from establishing a local minimum wage. McCrory stated that the law was in response to the Charlotte City Council on February 22, 2016, passing a non-discrimination ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in public accommodations (including restrooms) or by passenger vehicles for hire or city contractors. McCrory had asked council members not to pass the ordinance. The speaker of the House and lieutenant governor invoked a rarely-used constitutional provision to call themselves into session, without the governor calling it, by collecting enough signatures from legislators. On March 23, 2016, the legislature sent the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act to the governor's desk for his signature and McCrory signed the bill on the same evening it passed.

The law sparked public protests and motivated entertainers such as Bruce Springsteen to cancel shows, and companies have pulled jobs and investments out of NC: PayPal stopped a planned expansion that would have created 400 jobs, Lionsgate moved production of a television show out of the state, Deutsche Bank halted plans to add 250 jobs in the state, and over 160 other companies have called for the law's repeal. Several states and cities, including Atlanta, have banned official travel to North Carolina. Time Warner Cable News estimated that as of April 22, the law had cost the state over 1750 jobs and over $77 million of investments and visitor spending. On July 21, 2016, the NBA announced that it would move the 2017 All-stars game out of Charlotte. The NBA's decision to move the All-Star game away from Charlotte outraged Republicans who noted Charlotte was chosen for the All-Star game by the league after the city had voted down a similar ordinance itself. Republicans also noted HB2 had no jurisdiction over private facilities, meaning the league could set any bathroom policy it preferred for game it was to host in Charlotte. September 12, 2016, the NCAA announced that it would pull their championship games from NC due to their opposition of HB2.

On Tuesday, April 12, McCrory signed an executive order that "expands the state's employment policy for state employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity" and "seeks legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination." McCrory's executive order also encouraged the General Assembly to reinstate the ability for residents to sue an employer in state court for discrimination. On July 28, 2016, the General Assembly officially restored that portion of the law.

On several occasions, McCrory pushed for a deal that would repeal HB2 in exchange for the City of Charlotte voting to repeal their ordinance. On September 19, 2016, a Charlotte news station reported a majority of Charlotte City Councilmen had agreed to repeal their ordinance, which would have led to the legislature repealing HB2. A Democratic member of the North Carolina legislature told the station a fellow member of the legislature personally lobbied Democratic members of the Charlotte City Council to keep the ordinance in place, which would, in turn, keep HB2 in place, creating a wedge issues to boost Democratic turnout in the November 2016 general election.

On July 1, 2016, WBTV reported members of the General Assembly had an agreement in place to come back into session and repeal the controversial portions of HB2. In this case, it was reported then-Attorney General and Democratic candidate for governor Roy Cooper, played an integral role in killing the compromise bill. According to the report, 10 House Democrats had signed on to the plan to alter HB2 in a way that would satisfy the business community. The report stated Cooper personally called the 10 Democrats and demanded they vote against the bill if they "wanted to be on the team in November." The North Carolina Republican Party said Cooper helped kill the bill in order to keep the controversial issue alive in his bid to unseat Republican Pat McCrory.

Approval ratings

According to polling by the Civitas Institute, McCrory's approval rating during his first year in office fell 15 percentage points to 49% between June and July 2013. A second poll conducted in July 2013 indicated that the governor's approval rating had fallen to 40%, down from 45% in June. The same poll indicated that only 35% of voters approved of the Republican-led state government. At the start of April 2015, the liberal Public Policy Polling firm found McCrory to have an approval rating of 36% and a disapproval rating of 45%.

Towards the end of his term in office, in September 2016, a poll commissioned by Bloomberg Politics reported 49% of North Carolinians approving of his job performance, and 44% disapproved.