Rep. Jim DeMint (R) Elected 1998, 3d term
Born:	Sept. 2, 1951, Greenville
Home:	Greenville
Education:	U. of TN, B.S. 1973, Clemson U., M.B.A. 1981
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Debbie)
Professional Career:	Sales Rep., Scott Paper, 1973-75; Acct. Rep., Henderson Advertising, 1975-81; V.P., Leslie Advertising, 1981-84; Pres., DeMint Marketing, 1983-98.
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A century ago, Northern investors seeking sites for textile mills looked at the Up Country of South Carolina and "were attracted by the mild climate, abundant water power, proximity to the cotton fields and plenty of native [white] labor already accustomed to a low standard of living." As mills fled New England, textile factories settled along the Southern Railway and Seaboard Coast Line tracks between Charlotte and Atlanta, especially in the Piedmont of South Carolina. The textile country might look bucolic, but Greenville, Spartanburg and the dozens of mill towns thick in the surrounding countryside were as industrial as Lancashire or the Ruhr, with mills rising up on what were once twisting woodland paths. In the days before child labor laws, factory work sometimes began at age six, condemning workers to a life of illiteracy; escapes to a brighter future, such as the brilliant but brief baseball career of West Greenville's Shoeless Joe Jackson, were rare.

Today, this same stretch of land along Interstate 85, which parallels the Southern Railway, remains the number one textile-producing area in the United States. But it is now much more than that. Textile and apparel work has steadily declined, but so many other jobs were created in the 1990s that the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance dropped "textiles" from its name. Financial sweeteners, low taxes, nonexistent unions and solid infrastructure--airports, interstate highways, and the busy port of Charleston--have attracted an enormous BMW plant, the American headquarters of Michelin and a big Fuji film factory, among many others. Greenville's revitalized downtown now boasts fancy hotels and restaurants, including Korean, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine--each catering to the new corporate manager class.

The 4th Congressional District includes all of Greenville and Spartanburg Counties, plus much smaller Union County and a sliver of Laurens County. Culturally, the 4th ranges from conservative to very conservative, with strong influence by Greenville's many evangelical and fundamentalist churches. Bob Jones University is here; it has dropped its longtime ban on interracial dating and has an impressive collection of religious paintings. Newcomers to the area have brought religious diversity. Greenville has growing populations not only of Catholics and Jews, but also Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha'is, and the only gay-oriented church within a 60-mile radius. Still, this is a heavily Republican district, with the smallest black percentage in the state and the highest vote share by George W. Bush in 2000 (64%). Here the real political divide is between religious and economic conservatives.

The congressman from the 4th District is Jim DeMint, a Republican elected in 1998. DeMint grew up in Greenville, graduated from the University of Tennessee and Clemson Business School, and returned to Greenville to work as a paper salesman and in the advertising business. In 1983 he founded DeMint Marketing, a research firm with businesses, schools, colleges and hospitals as clients. In 1992 he went to work for 33-year-old lawyer Bob Inglis's House campaign. As he explains, "I became increasingly concerned that the freedoms we take for granted in America are under attack in such a subtle way that no one is noticing it. I developed the feeling that I had a burden to try to change things." Inglis pledged to serve only three terms, to take no PAC money, to oppose pork barrel projects even in South Carolina; DeMint honed the Inglis message using focus groups and advertising expertise. Inglis upset an incumbent Democrat by 50%-48%, and kept his promises.

In 1998 Inglis kept his term-limit promise and ran for the Senate. DeMint ran, with Inglis' support, in the 4th District. Like Inglis, he pledged to serve only three terms and take no PAC money. He called for a national sales tax or flat tax, for individual retirement accounts in Social Security, for the right-to-life amendment, for the English rule (loser pays winner's attorney fees) in tort cases. In the primary, the favorite was state Senator Mike Fair, a former University of South Carolina quarterback. In the primary Fair led with 32%; DeMint came in second with 23%, 699 votes ahead of hospital executive Howell Clyborne. In the runoff two weeks later, Fair bragged about his experience, but DeMint called him a "career politician." The result was a 53%-47% upset win for DeMint. He trailed in Greenville County 51%-49%, but carried Spartanburg County by 60%-40%. DeMint won the general election 58%-40%.

In the House DeMint was elected president of the freshman class and quickly became a strong conservative voice. He used his background in marketing research to work on developing and communicating the Republican message. He joined other junior Republicans seeking to rein in spending by the appropriators. He resisted local pressures and was the only South Carolina House member to vote for PNTR with China, arguing that the best way to remedy human-rights abuses was "to export our products and principles." The libertarian Cato Institute ranked DeMint in the top 1% of "free traders" in the House. But DeMint refused to support trade promotion authority and accused Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas of undermining a written pledge from Republican leaders to protect the domestic textile industry by requiring that Caribbean textile imports be dyed and finished in the United States. A few weeks later, DeMint won the showdown with Thomas when House leaders restored the textile provision; he ultimately voted for trade promotion authority.

When Bush in 2001 proposed his $1.6 trillion tax-cut package, DeMint was among a small group who immediately pushed for more; he was a leading advocate of the expanded adoption tax credits in the final package. He sponsored an amendment to Bush's education bill to create a state-based block-grant program; to preserve his bipartisan coalition, Education and the Workforce Chairman John Boehner tried to discourage DeMint. Bush, in a meeting in the Oval Office, got DeMint to back down. He worked to advance individual investment accounts in Social Security by getting 117 House members to sign a letter of support for the Social Security Commission.

DeMint's votes on trade aroused some loud opposition in the district, and in May 2001 Public Service Commissioner and former state Representative Phil Bradley announced he would challenge him in the Republican primary. Bradley had the support of textile titan Roger Milliken, long a financer of conservative and protectionist candidates. DeMint defended his support for free trade as beneficial for international investment in the district, and said that he also sought to protect domestic workers. This turned out to be a more serious challenge than most incumbents get. DeMint led by only 52%-48% in Spartanburg County, which cast 36% of the votes. He did better, 68%-32%, in more diversified Greenville County, which cast 61% of the votes. Overall DeMint won 62%-38%. After the election, DeMint said that he would keep his promise to serve only three terms in the House and that he would run for Ernest Hollings's Senate seat in 2004; he soon gained the backing of White House political strategist Karl Rove. Continuing their partnership, Bob Inglis said that he would run again in the 4th District, but refused to make another term limits pledge, which he said would be "unilateral disarmament" for local interests.

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DC Office
432 CHOB 20515, 202-225-6030; Fax: 202-226-1177; Web site: www.house.gov/demint

State Offices
Greenville, 864-232-1141; Spartanburg, 864-582-6422; Union, 864-427-2205.

Committees

• Education & the Workforce (12th of 27 R): Education Reform; Employer-Employee Relations (Vice Chmn.).
• Small Business (6th of 18 R): Tax, Finance & Exports; Workforce, Empowerment & Government Programs.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (19th of 41 R): Coast Guard & Maritime Transportation; Highways, Transit & Pipelines; Railroads.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	7	0	25	87	88	62	90	100	100	100
2001	0	--	0	0	--	--	73	96	100	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		0%	--	91%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	0%	--	97%		24%	--	72%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Jim DeMint (R)	122,422	69%	$458,695
	Peter Ashy (D)	51,462	29%
	Other	3,533	2%
2002 primary	Jim DeMint (R)	39,142	62%
	Phil Bradley (R)	24,423	38%
2000 general	Jim DeMint (R)	150,436	80%	$303,967
	Ted Adams (CNP)	16,532	9%	$15,968
	April Bishop (Lib)	12,757	7%	$69,869
	Other	9,326	5%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (58%)

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	151,975	64%
	Gore (D)	78,449	33%
	Other	5,843	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fourth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +16
• District Size: 2,165 square miles
• Population in 2000: 668,669; 73.5% urban; 26.5% rural
• Median Household Income: $39,417; 11.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 30.8% blue collar; 56.0% white collar; 13.2% gray collar; 12.8% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 74.6% White, 19.7% Black, 1.3% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.8% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 3.2% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.7% USA, 8.0% English, 7.5% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.