Daniel Kent McCready (born July 18, 1983) is an American
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field.
A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces.
A topic o ...
,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
, civil rights activist, and former
political candidate from
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
. He served in the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
, reaching the rank of
captain.
McCready was the
Democratic Party nominee for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
from
North Carolina's 9th congressional district in the
2018 election. Initially it appeared that Republican
Mark Harris won narrowly. The bipartisan state election board completed an investigation into allegations of ballot fraud by Republican operatives and declined to certify the election and called for
a special election to fill the seat. McCready lost the special election to
Dan Bishop on September 10, 2019.
Early life and education
McCready is from
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
, and graduated from
Myers Park High School in the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system. He earned a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in economics from
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
in 2005. He then served as a
captain in the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
and was deployed to
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
in 2007 and 2008, where he led two platoons. Following his military service, he returned to university for graduate work, earning a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
(MBA) from
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
.
Career
After earning his MBA in 2011, McCready worked for a year as a
management consultant
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
for
McKinsey & Company. He left the company in 2013 to cofound Double Time Capital, a solar-focused
clean energy fund, with partner
Rye Barcott. As of February 2017, "Double Time has financed 36 solar energy projects, which collectively produce roughly 10% of North Carolina's solar power and power around 30,000 homes in the state." At that time, North Carolina was the second ranked state in the United States based on the cumulative amount of solar electric capacity installed.
In 2014, McCready founded This Land, an
online store for
American crafts that highlighted the work of skilled
craftspeople from economically depressed areas who otherwise do not have the means to market their products to broad audiences. In 2017, McCready announced that he would be closing the site in order to focus on his campaign for US House of Representatives.
2018 U.S. House of Representatives election
In May 2017, McCready announced his candidacy for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
in . On May 8, 2018, McCready easily won the
Democratic Party primary election while former pastor
Mark Harris unseated incumbent representative
Robert Pittenger in the Republican primary. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described the race between Harris and McCready as a "top-tier contest". A
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
story called the race "one of the most competitive". On election day, unofficial vote tallies showed Harris defeating McCready by 905 votes, but on November 27, 2018, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Reform declined to certify the election results, citing voting irregularities involving
absentee ballots in the eastern part of the district. The irregularities became the subject of a criminal investigation into an alleged
ballot harvesting scheme to elect the Republican Harris. It was orchestrated by Republican political operative
McCrae Dowless in
Bladen and
Robeson Counties.
The
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
subsequently retracted calling the race, pending the ultimate decision of the state board of elections. On November 30, the election board of the district decided to hear evidence about "claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities" at a meeting to be held by December 21, which was subsequently delayed to January 10, 2019, after the new Congress was scheduled to be seated. McCready withdrew his earlier submitted concession on December 6. In February 2019, the bipartisan election board unanimously determined they would not certify the results because of ballot fraud by Republican operatives. They called for a special election to be held. The state legislature passed a law requiring new party primaries.
2019 U.S. House of Representatives special election
The election board called a special election to be held for this congressional seat. A newly passed law by the
North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...
requires such a do-over to include the holding of new preceding primaries for the parties. McCready filed to run in the special election. McCready's
major party opposition was Republican state senator
Dan Bishop. The election was held on September 10.
During the election, President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
claimed that McCready "wants to take away your guns", "raise your taxes", "likes open borders", and "really admires socialism."
''CNN'' described Trump's claims as comprehensively inaccurate, as McCready advocates for tax cuts for the middle class, does not advocate for taking guns away, and supports physical barriers on the border.
On September 10, 2019, Bishop won the 2019 special election to Congress with 50.7% of the vote to McCready's 48.7%.
Personal life
McCready is married to Laura Thornhill McCready, an attorney. They met while students at Duke. They have five children.
References
External links
Dan McCready for Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCready, Dan
1983 births
Businesspeople from North Carolina
Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections
Candidates in the 2019 United States elections
Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Living people
North Carolina Democrats
Politicians from Charlotte, North Carolina