NC’s Rep. Patrick McHenry ‘doesn’t give up.’ But will he remain in speaker role?

The emotion Rep. Patrick McHenry felt as he became interim leader of the House Tuesday afternoon was felt around the world as he banged his gavel down forcefully to recess the chamber.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy was required to keep a secret list of successors to take on that role if something were to happen to him. McHenry, 47, one of his top allies, was at the top of his list when McCarthy was ousted as House speaker Tuesday.

The North Carolina lawmaker from Lincoln County — just 36 miles north of Charlotte — had been standing in the back of the chamber watching the vote count. North Carolina’s delegation fell in line with their parties: Republicans voting to keep McCarthy. Democrats voting him out.

Slowly and unassumingly, McHenry made his way to the front of the chamber as he realized his friend was about to lose his leadership role. A role that had put McCarthy just third in line to the presidency.

The announcement was made: For the first time in U.S. history, House members had voted out their speaker.

“What now?” a female congresswoman shouted as McHenry began walking up the steps to the podium. The clerk then announced it: McHenry was in charge.

At home in North Carolina

McHenry’s supporters back home weren’t told in advance of what was to come. But they also weren’t surprised.

State Rep. Jason Saine, a resident of McHenry’s district, has known him since college and maintains a very close friendship that includes basketball games, days at the pool, lake visits and campaigning. McHenry was in Saine’s wedding to his wife, Kathryn.

“For us, for Kathryn and I, just watching our friend accomplish this is just neat,” Saine said. “I was texting my wife last night saying you need to watch this, and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s our guy. There’s our guy.’ He’s right in the middle of it.”

Saine said he could tell through the television that McHenry was upset.

They began sending texts that Saine described as “snarky” back and forth.

“He said, ‘This is chaos right now,’” Saine said.

“I said, ‘I can read it all over your face,’ and he said, ‘We’ll recover, but this is no place that any of us want to be in right now.’”

Does McHenry want to stay speaker?

Saine asked him the question on everyone’s mind: Does McHenry want to remain speaker? Saine said, with a chuckle, that he wouldn’t say exactly the words McHenry told him but that he did say, “I’m going to try and right the ship here.”

Saine added that he doesn’t believe his friend wants the job, but if McHenry thought becoming speaker was the best option for the country, he would do it.

“His decision will be made on protecting the institution, Congress, the House and making sure that just because there is chaos today, doesn’t mean the chaos will reign supreme,” Saine said. “I think he’ll do everything he can to hold it together and kind of marshal people into working together instead of picking each other apart.”

Since Tuesday afternoon, McHenry, who is usually media-friendly, hasn’t stopped to talk with reporters trying to ask him about what happens now, including whether he wants the job.

On Wednesday afternoon, his chief of staff, Jeff Butler, sent a message to McClatchy saying, “He’s focusing on working with the conference to elect a new speaker.” He said there wasn’t much to add beyond that.

On Wednesday, Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced his plans to seek the speakership. So did Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio.

McHenry told the caucus internal elections would be held on Oct. 11, followed by a vote on the floor the following day. Some worry that the House won’t be able to come to a consensus that quickly. It took members 15 votes before they agreed to let McCarthy serve as speaker in January.

“He doesn’t give up,” Saine said. “Just because there’s chaos today doesn’t mean that’s what will be for the next several months. He is going to try to fix it.”

Republican support

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who once served as state House speaker, said he’s “not in any way envious of what (McHenry’s) got to do between now and next week.”

Tillis and McHenry did not serve together in the state House. Tillis joined two years after McHenry left in 2005 to serve in Congress.

Tillis said he sent a message to McHenry that he “regretted the events of yesterday” and asked how he could help. He said he has not yet heard back, but also wasn’t expecting a response.

“I’m proud that he’s speaker,” Tillis said. “And I think it’s really a testament to the reputation that he’s established over there.”

He added that he would support a permanent Speaker McHenry, but more important is whether the House Republican caucus will.

Rep. David Rouzer, a Republican from Wilmington, stood a few feet behind McHenry as he cast his failed vote to save McCarthy.

“I think the motion to vacate was very unfortunate,” Rouzer told McClatchy on Wednesday. “And the vote to vacate the chair, I think really does harm to the institution, the House itself and the House’s ability to govern. I also think it was a disservice to the country. That said, we are where we are and we have to chart a path forward to select a speaker, which is not going to be easy.”

Rouzer said with 221 members representing constituents with varying conservative views, it won’t be the easiest to get a majority on board to select a new speaker.

“Given some of the emotions that people were feeling late yesterday,” Rouzer said, “I’m glad that discussion will be next week and not this week.”

He worries the vote could go on for a while. Rouzer said he could see the consensus coming down to McHenry, but his colleague has three very young children at home to think about.

“I think Patrick, who is a great friend and very loyal guy — who cares about the institution — I think he’d be fabulous,” Rouzer said. “I don’t think he wants it, but he may find himself in what I call the Paul Ryan predicament, where he’s the one person that might be able to corral 218 votes.”

He added that McHenry is smart, capable and appreciated in the caucus.

“A lot of people got to know him well when he was a deputy whip, and he’s always been a friend of all and a friend to the institution,” Rouzer said, “and I think he’s got a great shot to be speaker if he wants to be speaker.”

Patrick McHenry was on the rise from Day One. Now, he’s acting Speaker of the House.

Quiet power grab

McHenry’s rise in politics was quiet but steady. He was encouraged to find an area of focus and work toward a leadership role on that topic. That was, for him, finances. He is now chair of the House Financial Services Committee, a position he worked toward ever since.

“I think the rest of the country is figuring out what we’ve known for a while in North Carolina, which is that Patrick McHenry is a master at quietly gaining power,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University.

Cooper said he’s in contrast to others in North Carolina politics, like former President Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who Cooper said hoarded media and sought the spotlight.

Voteview rated McHenry, in last term’s 117th Congress, as more conservative than 79% of the House and 58% of his Republican colleagues. The 10th Congressional District that McHenry represents has moved with each redistricting, but McHenry always safely retained his seat and hasn’t been truly challenged by other Republicans.

“Patrick McHenry has gained power by quietly leaning where the levers of power are and how they work, and getting himself close to people who already yield great power,” Cooper said. “He’s a workhorse of the United States Congress, and I think the rest of the world is just now learning that.”