The President Pro Tempore

Pro tempore

Pro tempore , abbreviated pro tem or p.t., is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a locum tenens in the absence of a superior, such as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.Legislative...

(more commonly, "Pro-Tem") of the North Carolina Senate

North Carolina Senate

The North Carolina Senate is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly.Its prerogatives and powers are similar to those of the other house, the House of Representatives. Its members do, however, represent districts that are larger than those of their colleagues in the House. The...

 is the highest-ranking (internally elected) officer of one house of the North Carolina General Assembly

North Carolina General Assembly

The North Carolina General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The General Assembly drafts and legislates the state laws of North Carolina, also known as the General Statutes...

. The President of the Senate is the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

The Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the second highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government...

, but the President Pro-Tem actually holds most of the power and presides in the absence of the Lt. Governor. He or she, a senior member of the party with a majority of seats, appoints senators to committees and also appoints certain members of state boards and commissions. Until 1868, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 had no Lieutenant Governor, and the highest ranking officer of the Senate was known as the Speaker. The Speaker of the Senate was next in line if the office of Governor

Governor of North Carolina

The Governor of North Carolina is the chief executive of the State of North Carolina, one of the U.S. states. The current governor is Bev Perdue, North Carolina's first female governor.-Powers:...

 became vacant. This occurred on two occasions.

Presidents Pro-Tem are elected at the beginning of each biennial session, in January of odd-numbered years. Between 1868 and 1992, it was rare for a President Pro-Tem to serve more than two terms. Marc Basnight

Marc Basnight

Marc Basnight served as a Democratic member of the North Carolina State Senate, representing the 1st District, from 1984 through his resignation just before the start of what would have been his 14th term in 2011...

, however, became arguably the most powerful North Carolina Senate leader in history and one of the state's most influential politicians when he served a record nearly 18 years as President Pro-Tem.

Speakers

• Samuel Ashe
  Samuel Ashe (1725-1813)
  Samuel Ashe was the ninth Governor of the U.S. State of North Carolina from 1795 to 1798.Ashe was born in Beaufort, North Carolina. His father, John Baptista Ashe, and brother, John Ashe, both served as Speaker of the North Carolina Colonial Assembly, or House of Burgesses. Ashe became an orphan...
  
   1777
• Whitmell Hill
  Whitmell Hill
  Whitmell Hill was an American planter from Martin County, North Carolina. He was a delegate for North Carolina to the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1780....
  
   1778
• Allen Jones
  Allen Jones (delegate)
  Allen Jones was an American planter and statesman from Northampton County, North Carolina. During the Revolutionary War he was a Brigadier General in the state militia. He was a delegate for North Carolina to the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780...
  
   1778-79
• Abner Nash
  Abner Nash
  Abner Nash was the second Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina between 1781 and 1782, and represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786....
  
   1779-80
• Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin was the fourth and seventh Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1782 to 1784 and from 1789 to 1792.-Biography:...
  
   1780-82
• Richard Caswell
  Richard Caswell
  Richard Caswell was the first and fifth governor of the U.S. State of North Carolina, serving from 1776 to 1780 and from 1784 to 1787....
  
   1782-84
• Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin was the fourth and seventh Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1782 to 1784 and from 1789 to 1792.-Biography:...
  
   1785
• James Coor 1786-87
• Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin was the fourth and seventh Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1782 to 1784 and from 1789 to 1792.-Biography:...
  
   1787-88
• Richard Caswell
  Richard Caswell
  Richard Caswell was the first and fifth governor of the U.S. State of North Carolina, serving from 1776 to 1780 and from 1784 to 1787....
  
   1789
• Charles Johnson
  Charles Johnson (U.S. politician)
  Charles Johnson was a Congressional representative from North Carolina. Johnson was born in Chowan County, North Carolina; engaged as a planter; elected to the Continental Congress in 1781, 1784, and 1785, but did not attend; served in the state senate in 1781-1784, 1788–1790, and 1792 ; elected...
  
   1789
• William Lenoir
  William Lenoir (general)
  William Lenoir was an American Revolutionary War officer and prominent statesman in late 18th-century and early 19th-century North Carolina. Both the City of Lenoir, North Carolina and Lenoir County, North Carolina are named for him. Additionally, Lenoir City, Tennessee is jointly named for him...
  
   1790-95
• Benjamin Smith 1795-99
• Joseph Riddick
  Joseph Riddick
  Joseph Riddick was a North Carolina politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina Senate for 11 years from 1800 to 1804 and from 1806 to 1811. Only Bartlett Yancey and Marc Basnight have led the state Senate for a longer span of time. Riddick was also a veteran of the American...
  
   1800-04
• Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin
  Alexander Martin was the fourth and seventh Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1782 to 1784 and from 1789 to 1792.-Biography:...
  
   1805
• Joseph Riddick
  Joseph Riddick
  Joseph Riddick was a North Carolina politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina Senate for 11 years from 1800 to 1804 and from 1806 to 1811. Only Bartlett Yancey and Marc Basnight have led the state Senate for a longer span of time. Riddick was also a veteran of the American...
  
   1806-11
• George Outlaw
  George Outlaw
  George Outlaw was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina in 1825.Outlaw, born near Windsor, North Carolina in Bertie County, was educated by private teachers and in the common schools. He engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits and was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons for a...
  
   1812-14
• John Branch
  John Branch
  John Branch, Jr. served as U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, the 19th Governor of the state of North Carolina, and was the sixth and last territorial governor of Florida....
  
   1815-17
• Bartlett Yancey
  Bartlett Yancey
  Bartlett Yancey, Jr. was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina, USA, between 1813 and 1817....
  
   1817-28
• Jesse Speight
  Jesse Speight
  Jesse Speight was a North Carolina and Mississippi politician in the nineteenth century.Born in Greene County, North Carolina, Speight attended country schools as a child. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons in 1820, serving as Speaker of the House, and was a member of the North...
  
   1828-29
• Bedford Brown
  Bedford Brown
  Bedford Brown was a Democratic United States Senator from the State of North Carolina between 1829 and 1840. was born in what now is , Caswell County, North Carolina. His parents were Jethro Brown and Lucy Williamson Brown. After attending the University of North Carolina for one year, Brown was...
  
   1829-30
• David F. Caldwell 1830-32
• William D. Moseley 1832-35
• Hugh Waddell 1836-37
• Andrew Joyner 1838-41
• Lewis D. Wilson 1842-43
• Burgess S. Gaither 1844-45
• Andrew Joyner 1846-47
• Calvin Graves 1848-49
• Andrew Joyner 1849
• Weldon N. Edwards 1850-52
• Warren Winslow
  Warren Winslow
  Warren Winslow was the 33rd Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1854 to 1855. Winslow graduated from the University of North Carolina....
  
   1854-55
• William Waightstill Avery
  William Waightstill Avery
  William Waightstill Avery was a North Carolina politician and lawyer. Born in Burke County, North Carolina, he was the brother of Isaac E. Avery, the son of Isaac Thomas Avery, and the grandson of Waightstill Avery. In 1846 Avery married Mary Corinna Morehead, the daughter of Gov...
  
   1856-57
• Henry T. Clark 1858-61
• Giles Mebane
  Giles Mebane
  Giles Mebane was a North Carolina politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina Senate during most of the American Civil War ....
  
   1862-65
• Thomas Settle
  Thomas Settle (judge)
  Thomas Settle was an American judge and politician in North Carolina.Born in Rockingham County, North Carolina, Settle received a A.B. from the University of North Carolina in 1850 and read law to enter the bar in 1854. He was a private secretary to North Carolina Governor David S...
  
   1865-66
• C. S. Winstead 1866
• Matthias Manly 1866-67
• Joseph H. Wilson 1867

Presidents Pro Tempore

• Edward J. Warren 1870-72
• James T. Morehead, Jr. 1872-75
• James L. Robinson
  James L. Robinson
  James Lowry Robinson was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of North Carolina; he served as lieutenant governor of the state for four years and as acting Governor of North Carolina for one month in 1883....
  
   1876-77
• William A. Graham
  William A. Graham (agriculture commissioner)
  William Alexander Graham was a North Carolina legislator and state Commissioner of Agriculture.Born in Hillsborough, North Carolina to William Alexander Graham and Susannah Sarah Washington, Graham was educated at private schools, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Princeton...
  
   1879-80
• William T. Dortch 1881-1883
• E. T. Boykin 1885-1887
• Edwin W. Kerr 1889
• W. D. Turner 1891
• John L. King 1893
• E. L. Franck, Jr. 1895-1897
• R. L. Smith 1899-1900
• F. A. Whitaker 1899-1900
• Henry A. London 1901-03
• Charles A. Webb 1905-08
• Whitehead Klutz 1909
• Henry N. Pharr 1911-13
• Oliver Max Gardner
  Oliver Max Gardner
  Oliver Max Gardner was the 57th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933.-Early years and education:...
  
   1915
• Fordyce C. Harding 1917
• Lindsay C. Warren 1919-20
• William L. Long 1921-24
• William H. S. Burgwyn 1925
• William L. Long 1927
• Thomas L. Johnson 1929
• Rivers D. Johnson 1931
• William G. Clark 1933
• Paul D. Grady 1935
• Andrew H. Johnston 1937-38
• James A. Bell 1937-38
• Whitman E. Smith 1939
• John D. Larkins, Jr. 1941
• John H. Price 1943
• Archie C. Gay 1945
• Joseph L. Blythe 1947
• James C. Pittman 1949
• Rufus G. Rankin 1951
• Edwin Pate 1953
• Paul E. Jones 1955-56
• Claude Currie 1957
• Robert F. Morgan 1959
• William L. Crew 1961
• Ralph H. Scott 1963
• Robert B. Morgan 1965-66
• Herman A. Moore 1967
• Neill H. McGeachy 1969
• Frank N. Patterson, Jr.
  Frank N. Patterson, Jr.
  Frank Neville Patterson, Jr. was a North Carolina politician who served in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly....
  
   1971
• Gordon P. Allen
  Gordon P. Allen
  Gordon Phillip "Joe" Allen was a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly and an insurance professional from Roxboro, North Carolina....
  
   1971-74
• John T. Henley
  John T. Henley
  John Tannery Henley was a North Carolina politician and pharmacist from Hope Mills, North Carolina...
  
   1975-78
• W. Craig Lawing
  W. Craig Lawing
  William Craig Lawing was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and of the North Carolina Senate representing Mecklenburg County, and served as President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate for three terms...
  
   1979-84
• J. J. Harrington
  J. J. Harrington
  Joseph Julian "Monk" Harrington was a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1963 to 1988, representing the 1st District. During his last two terms in office , Harrington, a Democrat, served as President pro tempore...
  
   1985-88
• Henson P. Barnes
  Henson P. Barnes
  Henson Perrymoore Barnes is a North Carolina politician who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1975 to 1977, and as a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1977 to 1992....
  
   1989-92
• Marc Basnight
  Marc Basnight
  Marc Basnight served as a Democratic member of the North Carolina State Senate, representing the 1st District, from 1984 through his resignation just before the start of what would have been his 14th term in 2011...
  
   1993-2010
• Phil Berger
  Philip E. Berger
  Philip Edward Berger is a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's twenty-sixth Senate district, including constituents in Guilford and Rockingham counties....
  
  2011-Present