Rep. Patrick McHenry’s departure from Congress next year will be significant for the North Carolina congressional delegation. He was arguably the most influential Representative from the state in Congress last year.

McHenry briefly served as acting Speaker of the House when Kevin McCarthy was ousted and he serves as chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

North Carolina has new congressional districts for the 2024 elections. (NCGA)

McHenry has represented North Carolina’s 10th District for almost two decades but recently announced he would leave Congress after this term.

The newly redistricted 10th District, drawn by state Republican lawmakers, is located north of Charlotte and includes Statesville and parts of Winston-Salem. It remains solidly Republican, which means whoever wins the March 5 primary will likely be the winner in November.

Republicans Charles Eller, Brooke McGowan, Diana Jimison, Grey Mills and Pat Harrigan are running.

Mills and Harrigan are getting the most attention.

Harrigan is an Afghanistan war veteran who owns a gun manufacturing business. He lost to Democrat Jeff Jackson in the 14th district last election.

“When you have a redistricting process every two years and you don’t get to hold the cards…we kind of have to go with where the political winds blow,” Harrigan told Spectrum News 1.

Mills is an attorney in his fourth term in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

“I’m upset, just like many people, with the lack of leadership coming out of the White House. And a lot of people in Congress are distracted. So, I’m running to take our values to Washington, D.C.,” Mills said in an interview.

Both candidates said security at the U.S.-Mexico border is their top issue.

But Harrigan and Mills said they would have voted against the bipartisan Senate border package that was endorsed by the conservative National Border Patrol Council but failed to get enough votes from Senate Republicans in February.

“We can do a lot better than that…. on this issue, we need to stand united. We have got to address the problems. That bill didn’t go far enough,” said Mills.

“That bipartisan legislation was an absolute slap in the face to the American people because it didn’t solve the problem of fixing the national security threat that exists at the southern border,” said Harrigan.

The Mills campaign has accused Harrigan of being soft on immigration, pointing to stances he took in 2022 when he ran in a much more Democratic district.

While not calling Mills out by name. Harrigan said voters are tired of attorneys turned politicians. 

On Ukraine, Harrigan said the U.S border needs to be addressed before sending more funding to the war-torn country. Mills said he wants to see a clearer path to victory and didn’t specify to us whether he would support more funding.

On the question of a federal abortion ban, Mills said he would want to see the legislation before committing, but said he would vote to “save lives.”

In 2022, when Harrigan was running in the 14th District, he told us he did not support a federal ban on abortion. He now said, given the makeup of this different district. He would support one. But, he added, he supports certain exceptions.

Both men are looking to replace McHenry, who was the only North Carolina Republican in 2021 to vote to certify Joe Biden’s election win.

Harrigan said he also would have certified the results. Mills did not directly answer the question.

McHenry has not endorsed a candidate in this primary race.

Two people who have endorsed are NC House Speaker and 14th Congressional Republican candidate Tim Moore and Lt. Gov. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.

Moore endorsed Mills. Robinson endorsed Harrigan.