G. L. Pridgen
Gaston Layton Pridgen, known as G. L. Pridgen, (born around 1944) is a former Republican member of North Carolina’s House of Representatives. He represented the 46th District (covering Hoke, Robeson, and Scotland counties) from 2011 to 2013.
Pridgen is a retired telecommunications technician from Lumberton, North Carolina, and he has served in the U.S. Army. He was born in Robeson County, graduated from Littlefield High School, and studied at Robeson Community College. He worked for Southern Bell (which became BellSouth and AT&T), with two years of Army service interrupting his career. He served as a通信 lineman in Vietnam and earned the Bronze Star.
In 1994, he started his own telecom company, The Communications Company, Inc., serving local businesses. In 2009 he began working in the IT department at Southeastern Regional Medical Center.
As a state representative, Pridgen sat on seven standing committees and two House Select committees. He was Co-Chair of the House Unemployment Fraud Task Force and the House Select Committee on E-Procurement. His standing committees included Agriculture; Appropriations (where he was Vice-Chair for Education); Education; Judiciary and the Judiciary B subcommittee; and Public Utilities.
Pridgen sponsored 11 bills and co-sponsored 28, including H475 to consider making English the official language of North Carolina and H219 to tighten records on registered sex offenders. He nominated Dick Taylor to the UNC Board of Governors, and Taylor was approved and serves on the Board. He also served as Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and supported a plan to increase funding for UNC system schools.
He lives in Lumberton with his wife, Wendy. They have four children and seven grandchildren.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:37 (CET).