This picture was taken at the UNC Charlotte College Republicans Ronald Reagan Leadership Dinner in November of 2007. Being Chairman at the time, the decision fell to the executive board, headed by myself, to choose a local recipient of the award. The previous year, the award went to Reps. Sue Myrick and Robin Hayes. There were several candidates to receive the award this past year, but the clear choice was Mayor Pat McCrory. There were several things about this night that made it special. It was one of my first events in which I was able to give a speech to a group of over 50 people. The dinner was actually held the day after election day, where McCrory won his record 7th term as Mayor. So he was up all night, woke up early to do interviews, and still came out to get an award from a bunch of college kids. I found that most impressive. It was a shear pleasure to also eat dinner with the Mayor and listen to him talk about his life and get to see how knowledgable he really is about the issues. Of course, it would be just a few months after this dinner when he would announce his run for Governor. I was immediately on board.
I love the slogan of his campaign, "The Difference is Leadership." It wasn't born on this night, but it was one of many examples of others seeing what the citizens of North Carolina will see: a real leader.
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