Career
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. 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 1972, he lost the nomination to Jim Holshouser, the first of only two Republican governors of North Carolina of the 20th century. Lieutenant Governor
In 1988, Gardner defeated Democrat Tony Rand and became the first Republican elected lieutenant governor since Charles A. Reynolds, who served from 1897 to 1901.
Gardner served from January 1989 through January 1993, during the second term of Republican Governor James G. Martin.
In response to the election of Republican Gardner, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly transferred many of the powers of the Lieutenant Governor over to the President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate.
Political activity after retirement
In September 2011, Gardner endorsed the (ultimately unsuccessful) 2012 candidacy of Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley for lieutenant governor. As an "elder statesman," Gardner has been called one of the “Four Jims” of the North Carolina Republican establishment, the others being former Governors Holshouser and Martin and former United States. Senator. Jim Broyhill. The ceremony celebrated the return of Republicans to the governor"s office for the first time since Gardner"s defeat in 1992.
Forest also became the first Republican Lieutenant Governor since Gardner (Democrats Dennis Wicker, Beverly Perdue, and Walter Dalton served in the post after Gardner).
At age 79, Gardner came out of retirement when McCrory appointed him chairman of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (a full-time position) in 2013.
