Misplaced Pages

Thomas F. Hartnett

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Tommy Hartnett) American politician
Thomas F. Hartnett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987
Preceded byMendel J. Davis
Succeeded byArthur Ravenel Jr.
Member of the
South Carolina Senate
from the 16th District
In office
January 9, 1973 – January 3, 1981
Member of the
South Carolina House of Representatives
from Charleston County
In office
January 12, 1965 – January 9, 1973
Personal details
BornThomas Forbes Hartnett
(1941-08-07) August 7, 1941 (age 83)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (until 1972) Republican (1972-present)
ChildrenTom Hartnett Jr.

Thomas Forbes "Tommy" Hartnett (born August 7, 1941) is a former American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.

Early life, education and career

Hartnett was born in Charleston. He graduated from Bishop England High School in Charleston in 1960. He attended the College of Charleston from 1960 to 1961 and was in the United States Air Force Reserve from 1963 to 1969 and South Carolina Air National Guard from 1981 to 1987.

Political career

South Carolina House

In 1964, Hartnett was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from a Charleston-area district. He served four terms in that body. Originally a Democrat, he became a Republican in 1972, and attended that year's state Republican convention (and every convention after that until 1980). He was a delegate to every Republican National Convention from 1980 to 2000.

South Carolina Senate

He was elected to the South Carolina Senate in 1972 and served two terms.

US House of Representatives

In 1980, Hartnett won the Republican nomination for the Charleston-based 1st District after five-term incumbent Mendel Jackson Davis retired due to back problems. He narrowly defeated his Democratic opponent, Associate Deputy Commerce Secretary Charles D. Ravenel, becoming the first Republican to win an undisputed election in the district since Reconstruction. Hartnett likely owed his win to Ronald Reagan winning Charleston County with 55% of the vote. The district had also been trending Republican for some time at the national level; it has only supported the Democratic candidate for president once since 1956, when Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976. But conservative Democrats continued to hold most of the district's seats in the state legislature, as well as most local offices, well into the 1990s.

Hartnett was convincingly reelected in 1982, and took 61% of the vote in 1984. He gave up his seat in 1986 to run for lieutenant governor, narrowly losing to Democratic State Senator Nick Theodore. He then became a real estate agent, founding Hartnett Realty in his hometown of Mount Pleasant.

United States Senate

Hartnett came out of retirement in 1992 to run for the United States Senate against four-term incumbent and fellow Charleston resident Ernest Hollings. He gave Hollings his closest race ever, losing by only three percentage points in a very good year for Democrats nationally.

Personal life

Hartnett lives in Mount Pleasant and is chairman of the family-owned Hartnett Realty. The firm was created in 1947 by Catherine Forbes Hartnett and is one of the oldest Charleston real estate firms. His son, Tom Hartnett Jr., currently serves in the South Carolina House of Representatives.

References

  1. "New program hopes to weatherize 80 Charleston area homes in 2 years - Post and Courier". www.postandcourier.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.
  2. "Home". hartnettrealty.com.

External links

Image, Hartnett campaigns for United States Senate in South Carolina with supporter Kansas US Senator Bob Dole, 1992.

Sources

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byMendel J. Davis Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st congressional district
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987 		Succeeded byArthur Ravenel, Jr.
Party political offices
Preceded byNorma C. Russell Republican nominee for
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
1986 		Succeeded byHenry McMaster
Preceded byHenry McMaster Republican nominee for
U.S. Senator from South Carolina (Class 3)
1992 		Succeeded byBob Inglis
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byAnthony Brownas Former US Representative Order of precedence of the United States
as Former US Representative 		Succeeded byMick Mulvaneyas Former US Representative
South Carolina's delegation(s) to the 97th–99th United States Congresses (ordered by seniority)
97th Senate: House:
98th Senate: House:
99th Senate: House:

External links

Categories: