Arthur Ravenel, Jr.

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Arthur Ravenel, Jr. (born March 29, 1927) is a politician from South Carolina.

Born in Charleston, he received a B.S. from the College of Charleston in 1950 and served in the United States Marine Corps in 1945-1946. He is a realtor and general contractor, and was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1953 to 1958.

Ravenel grew up as a Democrat, but became a Republican in the mid-1960s. He was a member of the South Carolina Senate from 1980 to 1986, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Charleston-based 1st District in 1986. He was reelected three more times without serious opposition. He didn't run for reelection in 1994, but instead ran for governor. He finished second in the Republican primary to State Representative David Beasley, but lost the runoff. Two years later, he was elected to his old seat in the South Carolina State Senate, serving until 2004.

Ravenel staged a comeback in 2006, winning a seat on the school board of Charleston County at the age of 79. Only a year earlier, he had suffered a stroke. Meanwhile, his son Thomas was elected as state treasurer.

The Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Company is today one of the largest real estate firms in the Charleston area, and is headed today by son Arthur Ravenel III and his wife Heidi.

There is a cable-stayed bridge in Charleston called the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge. He'd run for the State Senate again specifically to get funding for the bridge.