Jim Gardner (North Carolina politician)

James Carson "Jim" Gardner
30th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
In office January 7, 1989 – January 9, 1993
Governor	James Grubbs Martin
Preceded by	Robert B. Jordan
Succeeded by	Dennis A. Wicker
U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 4th congressional district
In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969
Preceded by	Harold D. Cooley
Succeeded by	Nick Galifianakis
Born	April 8, 1933 Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Marie Tyler Gardner Parents: James Cuthrell (1908-1992) and<br< Sue Girardeau Trenholm Gardner (1909-1967)
Alma mater	North Carolina State University
Military Service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1953-1955

James Carson Gardner, known as Jim Gardner (born April 8, 1933), is a businessman and former politician who served a single term from 1967 to 1969 as a Republican U.S. Representative for his native North Carolina and as his state's 30th lieutenant governor from 1989 to 1993.

Gardner was born in Rocky Mount, a city of more than 50,000 population in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the Atlantic coastal plain of northeastern North Carolina. He completed public schools and attended North Carolina State University in the capital city of Raleigh. He served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955.^[1]

In May 1961, Gardner and Joseph Leonard Rawls, Jr. (1931-1982), opened in Rock Mount the first franchise store of the fast-food restaurant Hardee's, which now has more than 1,800 outlets across the country. He later formed Gardner Foods.^[2]

Gardner was a Republican before his party was competitive in state races against the then majority Democrats. Gardner ran in the 4th congressional district in 1964, but he was defeated by the 30-year incumbent, Harold Dunbar Cooley, I (1897-1974), when North Carolina supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential election against U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. In 1966, in a year more favorable to House Republican candidates, Gardner unseated Cooley by 13 percentage points.^[3] Prior to his House service, Gardner had been the state Republican chairman in 1965 and 1966.^[2]

Gerrymandered by the North Carolina Democrat legislature, Gardner did not run for reelection to the U.S. House in 1968. Instead, he was an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate that year as well as in 1972, and 1992. In both 1968 and in 1992, he won the Republican nomination, but lost to Democrats Robert Walter "Bob" Scott (1929-2009)^[4] and James Baxter Hunt, Jr. (born 1935),^[5] respectively.

In 1972, he lost his party's gubernatorial nomination to the Moderate Republican, James Eubert "Jim" Holshouser. Jr. (1934-2013), who coincidentally had earlier succeeded Gardner as state party chairman.^[6] Holshouser and James Grubbs Martin (born 1935) were the only Republican governors of North Carolina in the 20th century.

In 1988, more than two decades after his congressional service, Gardner defeated Democrat Anthony Eden "Tony" Rand (1939-2020)^[7] and became the first Republican elected lieutenant governor since1896. He served during James Martin's second term as governor, 1989 to 1993. In response to the election of Gardner, the Democrats in the state legislature transferred many of the powers of the lieutenant governor to the President Pro Tempore of the state Senate.

In September 2011, Gardner endorsed the ultimately unsuccessful candidacy of Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley for lieutenant governor. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag The ceremony celebrated the return of Republicans to the governor's office for the first time since Gardner's defeat in 1992. Forest, the son of former [[[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] Mayor Sue Wilkins Myrick, also became the first Republican lieutenant governor since Gardner.

After taking office, Governor McCrory appointed the then 79-year-old Gardner as the chairman of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.^[8]