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Candidates will challenge McHenry

By Steve Welker | The News Herald

Published: October 18, 2009

Updated: 10/19/2009 06:00 am

Morganton, NC - At least two people, one of them a Morganton businessman, will challenge three-term U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry for the Republican nomination to win North Carolina's 10th District congressional seat in the 2010 election.
Vance Patterson of 4950 Canterbury Place announced his candidacy Friday in Bakersville, Newland and Lenoir and on Saturday in Morganton and Newton. He'll speak next weekend in Statesville, Rutherfordton, Lincolnton and Gastonia and the following weekend in Shelby, completing a 10-county tour to introduce himself in the district.
Patterson, 59, is a serial entrepreneur who's started 11 companies and currently owns seven. He's also has a degree in economics. He's a lifelong Republican who this year became first vice-chair of the Burke County GOP. He and his wife, Mary Jo, have been married for 35 years and lived in Burke County for the past 15. They have four children.
Patterson said he's running because, "I'm worried about what our future generations will inherit — the massive debt and more importantly the culture that caused it.
"I'm upset about our government violating the principles of the constitution our Founding Fathers gave us to guide this country — balance of powers, checks and balances, the 10th Amendment, attacks on the 2nd.
"I am a real-world problem solver. For way too long, way too many problems in Washington have gone unsolved by way too many professional politicians. This needs to change. Problem solving is one of my strengths; I believe it would be irresponsible of me not to run!"
The immediate problem facing Patterson is how to get past not only McHenry — whose ardent conservatism and criticism of the Democrats has earned him recent national exposure on Fox News — but also past Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle, a dentist with a practice in Salisbury. Both McHenry and Keadle have real-world political campaign experience. This will be Patterson's first run for public office.
McHenry, who turns 34 this month, became involved in politics while still attending Belmont Abbey College. He ran for an N.C. House seat in 1998 and lost, but ran again in 2002 and won. After one term in Raleigh, he ran for the 10th District seat in 2004 after Cass Ballenger announced his retirement. McHenry narrowly defeated Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman in a primary runoff, but handily won the general election with 64 percent of the vote. He won with 62 percent in 2006 and, after defeating Lance Sigmon in the 2008 GOP primary, won 58 percent of the general-election vote last year.
Despite his success winning the election in what's considered a "safe" Republican stronghold — the district has not elected a Democratic congressman in 40 years — and also holding a 100-percent rating from the American Conservative Union, McHenry has had trouble attracting campaign funds. Earlier this year he made a special appeal to supporters for money to help pay off campaign debts including a $90,000 loan from a Shelby bank.
Keadle is no stranger to tough primaries.
In 1998, he beat out some heavy hitters — including Mecklenburg County Commission Chairman Tom Bush and former Rowan County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jim Cohen — in a Republican primary for the 12th Congressional District seat. Keadle lost that general election race to Rep. Mel Watt, a Democrat who has held the 12th District seat since it was re-established in 1992.
In 2000, Keadle won the GOP primary in a run for the N.C. Senate.
And Keadle emerged from a Republican primary last year before winning his at-large seat on the Iredell County Board of Commissioners.
"Everybody has counted me out of these primaries right until the day I won them," he said. "People still say, 'Keadle can't win.' Well, I'm used to that. And I intend to win this race."
Keadle said he is passionate about his forthcoming campaign.
"I think the folks who have been in Congress have not gotten the job done," he said. "And I think it's time we have citizen legislators representing us. I mean people who have lived real lives and worked in real jobs."
Keadle said he has signed a pledge to run for only two subsequent terms, if he is elected, and to eschew the congressional pension.
"I believe all career politicians should be returned to what is left of the economy and the job market in their district," Keadle in an e-mail statement about his candidacy. "So they understand firsthand what the words unemployment, short-time, furlough and COBRA payments mean."
The 2010 primary election will be on May 4.