He was a councillor in Highland from 2007-2015 and was Council Leader from 2012−15. He is the Scottish National Party Transport spokesperson in the House of Commons. Although as a teenager he was too young to vote in the Scottish referendum of 1979 he feels this sparked his interest in politics and representation.
In 1999 he founded a company, teclan ltd, in Inverness, which delivers digital marketing services for online retailers and ecommerce merchants.
Hendry was first elected in the 2007 Local Elections for the Aird and Loch Ness Ward with 892 first preferences taking the third seat out of four. He was appointed leader of the Scottish National Party Highland Council group in 2011, replacing John Finnie who had become a list Managing Successful Programmes for the Highlands and Islands.
In September 2007, he was appointed to the board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority. He was selected to stand as one of the Scottish National Party"s candidates for the six Scotland seats in the 2009 European Parliament election, although he was fourth on their list and the outcome of the voting was the Scottish National Party returned two MEPs.
In the 2012 local elections he took the second seat in the ward, being elected with 840 first preferences and on the first count.
The coalition held a 44-36 majority. This was the first time that the Independents have not been involved in the administration of the Highland Council. Prior to the formation of the administration, he was leader of the Scottish National Party group in the council.
He is credited with bringing in the living wage for council employees and introducing regional assemblies, giving Highland communities a voice.
In November 2014 he put his name forward as a prospective candidate for the Westminster election. In January 2015 it was announced that he had been selected to contest the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency in the 2015 general election.
Having been elected as an Member of Parliament, Hendry immediately resigned from his position as leader of Highland Council. Two months later, he announced that he was also resigning from his position of councillor for Aird and Loch Ness, in order to focus on his duties as an Member of Parliament.
After the 2012 Scottish local elections the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Labour Party formed a coalition to run the Council with Drew Hendry as Council Leader.
56th United Kingdom Parliament.