DeMint, James Warren (1951-…), was a member of the United States Senate from 2005 to 2013. DeMint, a Republican, represented South Carolina. Before joining the Senate, DeMint served in the U.S. House of Representatives. During DeMint’s tenure in Congress, he earned a reputation as a strong supporter of issues important to social conservatives.
DeMint was born on Sept. 2, 1951, in Greenville, South Carolina. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in 1973. In 1981, he graduated from Clemson University with a master’s degree in business administration. DeMint’s early career included jobs in sales and advertising. In 1983, he formed his own company, the DeMint Group, a marketing research firm.
DeMint was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998. He won reelection in 2000 and 2002. He supported such issues as free trade and reduced federal taxes.
In 2004, DeMint did not seek reelection to the House. He had promised when he was first elected to the House that he would serve no more than three terms. Instead, he campaigned for, and was elected to, a seat in the U.S. Senate. He took his Senate seat in January 2005. In the Senate, DeMint became known as a strong opponent of legalized abortion and gay marriage. He was a vocal opponent of amnesty (pardon) for illegal immigrants. He was a leading supporter of building a security fence along the United States border with Mexico.
DeMint was reelected in 2010. In that year, he became known as one of key supporters in Congress of the tea party movement. In December 2012, DeMint announced that he would resign from the Senate, effective in January 2013. He had agreed to become the president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy research institution. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley named Tim Scott, a U.S. representative, to fill DeMint’s Senate seat. In 2014, Scott was elected to serve out the remaining two years of DeMint’s Senate term. DeMint left the Heritage Foundation in 2017 after the foundation’s board of trustees voted to remove him as president.
See also Tea party movement; Heritage Foundation.
