James Carson Gardner
| Jim Gardner | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina | |
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In office January 7, 1989 – January 9, 1993 |
|
| Governor | Jim Martin |
| Preceded by | Bob Jordan |
| Succeeded by | Dennis Wicker |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 4th district |
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In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969 |
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| Preceded by | Harold Cooley |
| Succeeded by | Nick Galifianakis |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 8, 1933 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | North Carolina State University |
James Carson "Jim" Gardner (born April 8, 1933) is a North Carolina businessman and politician who served as a U.S. Representative (1967–1969) and as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina (1989–1993).
In May 1961, Gardner, along with Leonard Rawls, opened the first franchise store of the fast food restaurant Hardee's in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Later, in 1969, he bought the troubled Houston Mavericks of the American Basketball Association and moved them to North Carolina a year later as the Carolina Cougars.
Active in Republican politics from the days the party barely existed in North Carolina, Gardner first made a splash when he ran for Congress in 1964 and nearly defeated 30-year Democratic incumbent Harold D. Cooley, the powerful chairman of the United States House Committee on Agriculture. In 1966, Gardner (by then chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party) toppled Cooley by a shocking 13-point margin to represent a district that included Raleigh as well as his home in Rocky Mount.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1968, 1972, and 1992. In both 1968 and in 1992, he won the Republican nomination, but lost to Democrats Robert W. Scott and Jim Hunt, respectively. In 1972, he lost the nomination to Jim Holshouser, the first of only two Republican governors of North Carolina of the 20th century.
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