Pat Harrigan has won a Republican congressional primary for the second time. This time he’ll likely head to Washington since the 10th Congressional District, now represented by Patrick McHenry, is heavily Republican.
Harrigan received 41.2% of the vote in the five-way race. Iredell state Rep. Grey Mills received 38.9%.
The newly redrawn district covers Lincoln, Catawba and Iredell counties and stretches northeast to include Winston-Salem.
Harrigan served in the U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and owns a business that manufactures firearms. He ran in 2022 in the 14th Congressional District, which then favored Democrats. He lost to Jeff Jackson in the general election.
Immigration became a big issue in this year’s 10th Congressional Republican primary. A Virginia-based conservative political action committee backed Mills, accusing Harrigan of being soft on immigration. The ad quoted Harrigan from a 2022 interview with WFAE about undocumented immigrants brought as children. Harrigan said he wasn’t opposed to helping them get citizenship, but he added it’s “incredibly important that we have to gain control of the southern border.”
Charles Eller, Diana Jimison and Angelynn McGowan also ran in the Republican primary.
McHenry has represented the district for nearly two decades and served as interim speaker of the House for a short time last year. He said in December he wouldn’t run for reelection.
