From the Beaufort County Republican Party

Sen. Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate, is scheduled to be the guest speaker at the annual Reagan Day Dinner at the Washington Yacht & Country Club at 6 p.m. March 23.

The annual dinner is sponsored by the Beaufort County Republican Party. For further information or to make required reservations, call Chairwoman Elma Evett at 252-943-1185 or send email to alma.evett@yahoo.com.

Berger, a Republican, represents District 23, which includes Guilford and Rockingham counties, in the state Senate. Berger was elected to the Senate in 2000. He became minority leader in 2004. He was elected president pro tempore in 2011. As president pro tempore, Berger works closely with the Speaker of the House and the governor on behalf of the Senate. As president pro tempore, Berger has the exclusive authority to appoint all Senate committees and establish select committees. He also makes appointments to state boards and commissions. He presides over the Senate when the lieutenant governor is unable to do so. He serves as co-chairman of the Legislative Services Commission and the Committee on Government operations.

Berger, born in Danville, Virginia, was raised just across the state line in North Carolina. He graduated high school in 1970 and married his high-school sweetheart, Pat, in 1971. Berger worked in a Danville factory and later at Kroger to make money to attend college. With two young children, he worked full-time. At 28, he graduated from Averett University with a degree in sociology, the first member of his immediate family with a college degree.

In the spring of 1990, Berger and his family moved to Winston-Salem, where he attended law school. He worked nights painting apartments to make ends meet. He graduated law school in two and a half years, a semester early. He worked for a law firm in Charlotte and clerked for an appellate judge in Raleigh before moving to Eden in 1984, joining a law practice that later became Berger Law Firm, a partnership with his two sons, Philip and Kevin. Philip, the oldest son, is an administrative law judge. Berger’s daughter, Ashley, received her juris doctorate degree from the University of North Carolina in 2015.

Berger and his wife live in Eden. They have four grandchildren.