Jim DeMint

Senator from South Carolina

This week, we profile Jim DeMint, junior Senator from South Carolina.  An energetic, tenacious and persistently ambitious Southerner, DeMint is one of the most solidly conservative senators in America.  He is the chairman of the Senate GOP Steering Committee, an informal group of Senate conservatives, and a leader in the Tea Party movement.  As such, he is making headlines as one of the key figures of opposition to the McConnell-Reid fallback plan to give President Obama authority to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit; in an article published by The Hill DeMint was quoted as saying he would “use every tool in the Senate” to block the McConnell-Reid Plan.

A lifelong businessman, Jim DeMint was given an early education in the principles of business by his mother, the owner of a dance studio based out of their home in Greenville, S.C. called the DeMint Academy of Dance and Decorum.  In 1973, DeMint graduated from the University of Tennessee, in addition to marrying his high school sweetheart.  He returned to Greenville in 1981 – after receiving his MBA from Clemson – to work as paper salesmen.  This role was short-lived; in 1983, the future senator founded DeMint Marketing, a research firm.  The firm initially had four employees and was run by Jim DeMint until 1998.

In 1998, 4^th District Congressman Bob Inglis kept his promise to serve only three terms and challenged Senator Frtiz Hollings for his senate seat.  DeMint, who had worked as aide for Inglis, jumped into the race to replace him.  Running on a platform of a flat tax, individual Social Security accounts and a right-to-life Constitutional amendment, DeMint upset state senator Mike Flair in the Republican primary.  He would go on to easily win the general election.

DeMint’s leadership was apparent from the moment he entered Congress.  He was elected president of the freshman class and became a leader on allowing Social Security funds to be used for individual investment accounts, and emerged as one of the House’s biggest proponents of free trade.  Despite winning three easy re-elections, DeMint pledged to only seek three terms in the House.  In 2003, he kept his word, declaring his candidacy for Democrat Ernest Hollings’ empty Senate seat.  In the 2004 GOP Senate primary, DeMint faced three challengers.  The race boiled down to a race for second place after Governor David Beasley pulled far ahead in the polls.  On Election Day, Beasley picked up 37% of the vote and DeMint came in second with 26%.  Two weeks later, with the support of the third and fourth place primary finishers, DeMint won the GOP Senate nod, 59% to 41%.  Prior to Election Day, it was rumored that DeMint was the White House’s preferred candidate for the seat.

Jim DeMint faced Democratic state education superintendent Inez Tenenbaum in the general election.  Though he would go on to ultimately defeat Tenenbaum 54% to 44%, the election was not without its controversial moments.  During one debate, DeMint proclaimed that openly gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools, nor should unwed pregnant women.  He eventually apologized, claiming the statements were opinions based on his personal beliefs, and not issues he would or could deal with as a member of Congress.  Demint’s victory over Tenenbaum gave South Carolina two Republican senators for the first time since 1877.

Demint’s conservative standing shown through in his first year in the Senate. Named the most conservative senator by the National Journal, he was seen as a reliable vote on defense issues favored by the Pentagon and a key opponent of immigration reform.  Though his reelection in 2010 was never in doubt, he stayed active in the election cycle.  Prior to the 2010 elections, he founded the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), a political action committee dedicated to electing conservatives to the Senate.  Closely associated with the Tea Party movement, the SCF raised $9.1 million toward the 2010 U.S. Senate elections and endorsed successful first-time Senate candidates Pat Toomey, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, and Marco Rubio.

Despite his conservative credentials, Jim DeMint is not a strict partisan, voting with the Republican Party only 90% of the time.  His background in business has resulted in a continued effort to implement a flat tax.  While in the House, he co-sponsored a bill to replace all federal taxes with a 23% national sales tax.  Once in Senate, he called for the replacement of the income tax with an 8.5% sales consumption tax along with a levy on business profits.

With the McConnell-Reid plan becoming the prevalent solution to the debt limit debate, the opposition and fiscal message espoused by Jim DeMint and his allies will play large part in determining where we find ourselves on August 2^nd.

–Amendment202

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