Jim DeMint
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| Jim DeMint | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2005 Serving with Lindsey Graham |
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| Preceded by | Ernest Hollings |
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| In office January 6, 1999 – January 3, 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Bob Inglis |
| Succeeded by | Bob Inglis |
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| Born | September 2, 1951 Greenville, South Carolina |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Debbie DeMint |
| Alma mater | University of Tennessee |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
James Warren DeMint (born September 2, 1951) has been a U.S. Senator from South Carolina since 2005. He had previously represented the state's 4th Congressional District from 1999 to 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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[edit] Early life and education
DeMint was born in Greenville, South Carolina, one of four children. DeMint's parents, Tom Eugene DeMint and the former Betty W. (Rawlings) Batson,[1] divorced when he was five. DeMint was educated at the Christ Church Episcopal School, Greenville, South Carolina, Wade Hampton High School in Greenville, the University of Tennessee and Clemson University. He owned a market research firm in Greenville, The DeMint Group.
[edit] U.S. House of Representatives
In 1998, when Fourth District Congressman Bob Inglis decided to keep his promise to serve only three terms and ran against Senator Fritz Hollings, DeMint won the Republican primary for the district, which includes Greenville and Spartanburg. He then won the general election in November. The district is considered the most Republican in the state, and he did not face a serious or well-funded Democratic opponent in 1998 or in his two re-election campaigns in 2000 and 2002.
[edit] U.S. Senate
[edit] 2004 election
DeMint declared his candidacy for the Senate on December 12, 2002, after Hollings announced that he would retire after the 2004 elections. DeMint was supposedly the White House's preferred candidate in the Republican primary. Some thought DeMint was at a disadvantage since South Carolina had never elected two senators from the same region of the state. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina's senior senator, was also from the Upstate (and had represented the neighboring 3rd District from 1995 to 2003).
In the Republican primary on June 8, 2004 DeMint placed a distant second, 18 percentage points behind former governor David Beasley. DeMint won the runoff handily, however.
DeMint then faced Democratic state education superintendent Inez Tenenbaum in the November general election. DeMint led Tenenbaum through much of the campaign until DeMint committed a series of gaffes late in the race. In fact, Graham dispatched his Chief of Staff to ensure that DeMint committed no more verbal errors. However, the state's strong support for George W. Bush helped DeMint defeat Tenenbaum by 9.6 percentage points. DeMint's win meant that South Carolina was represented by two Republican Senators for the first time in its history.
DeMint stirred controversy during debates with Tenenbaum when he stated his belief that openly gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. When questioned by reporters, DeMint also stated that single mothers who live with their boyfriends should similarly be excluded from being educators. He later apologized for making the remarks without specifically retracting their substantive claims, saying they were "distracting from the main issues of the debate." He also noted that these were opinions based on his personal values, not issues he would or could deal with as a member of Congress.[2]
DeMint has since re-tooled his anti-homosexual rhetoric as a public health initiative. In an interview on NPR's Diane Rehm Show on January 31, 2008, he cited the prevalence of certain diseases among homosexuals as his reason for opposing gay marriage. He failed, however, to reconcile this opinion with the widely accepted view that stable, monogamous relationships such as marriage retard the spread of venereal diseases.
[edit] Committees
- Committee on Foreign Relations
- Subcommittee on European Affairs (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection
- Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy and Human Rights
- Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
- Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
- Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation
- Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
- Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Subcommittee on Energy
- Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
- Subcommittee on Water and Power
[edit] Political positions and actions
DeMint was ranked by National Journal as the most conservative United States Senator in their March, 2007 conservative/liberal rankings.[3] He was again ranked as the most conservative Senator in 2008.[4]
DeMint believes openly gay individuals and single mothers should not teach in public schools.[5]
DeMint favors banning all forms of abortion. [6] DeMint introduced a bill that would address the decline in IPOs in the U.S. by clarifying the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability legislation. He also introduced a hybrid tax reform plan that would attempt to simplify the tax code.
DeMint would require all illegal immigrants currently in the United States to return to their home countries to apply for legal reinstatement.
DeMint was strongly supported by the fiscally conservative political group Club for Growth. He has been strongly praised by the group for anti-pork activities in the 109th Congress.
DeMint, a Presbyterian, has strongly endorsed Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon.[7]
DeMint lodged an anonymous objection [8]to stall a bipartisan bill to aid Hurricane Katrina and Federal Flood victims that supporters hoped would have been waived through unanimously as the Senate prepared to leave for a two-week recess. Under Senate rules, DeMint's objection was enough to shelve the legislation at least until lawmakers return April 10, 2007, but most likely until later. His office confirmed that he placed the hold on the bill.
On Tuesday, May 29, 2007, DeMint asserted that WMDs are only yet to be found in Iraq. He then went on to blame troop deaths on Democrats, saying, "I believe a lot of the casualties can be laid at the feet of all the talk in Congress about how we've got to get out, we've got to cut and run."
Senator DeMint was a vocal supporter of Louisiana Senator David Vitter during the time when his prostitution scandal became public, and has been said to be a strong behind-the-scenes supporter of Idaho Senator Larry Craig, pressing his Republican Senatorial colleagues to avoid making negative public comments about Craig until his legal situation is resolved.
On February 6, 2008 Jim DeMint was joined by Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, John Cornyn, James Inhofe, and David Vitter in the Senate to introduce the Semper Fi Act of 2008 which would strip federal funding from Berkeley in response to the Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center controversy.[9] The bill would strip $2.1 million in education and youth nutrition earmarks for the city, and earmarks for the nearby University of California, Berkeley, a state institution unaffiliated with the city, and would instead earmark it for the Marines.
[edit] Personal
DeMint married his high school sweetheart, Debbie Henderson, on September 1, 1973; the couple have four children.
In April 2003, the Associated Press reported that DeMint was one of six members of Congress living in a Capitol Hill townhouse subsidized by The Family, a Christian religious organization with ties to fellow Senators Hillary Clinton and Sam Brownback.[10]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ demint
- ^ Dan Hoover, "DeMint apologizes after remarks on gays", Greenville News, October 6, 2004
- ^ http://politicalarithmetik.blogspot.com/2007/03/national-journal-2006.html
- ^ http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/sen/cons.htm
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2004/key-races/sc_senate.html
- ^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Button_upper_letter.pngSuperscript
- ^ http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=176345
- ^ http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2007_04_02.html#246921
- ^ Oakley, Doug (2008-02-07). Lawmakers aim to punish Berkeley over anti-Marines stance. San Jose Mercury News. MediaNews Group. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
- ^ Lara Jakes Jordan, "Fellowship finances townhouse where 6 congressmen live", Associated Press, April 20, 2003
[edit] External links
- United States Senator James W DeMint official Senate site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- SourceWatch Congresspedia — Jim DeMint profile
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob Inglis |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district 1999 – 2005 |
Succeeded by Bob Inglis |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings |
United States Senator (Class 3) from South Carolina 2005 – present Served alongside: Lindsey Graham |
Incumbent |
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