Thomas F. Hartnett

Thomas F. Hartnett
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 by	Mendel J. Davis
Succeeded by	Arthur 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
Born	Thomas Forbes Hartnett; August 7, 1941 (age 83); Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (until 1972) Republican (1972-present)

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

Life 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.

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

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.

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.

Hartnett lives in Mount Pleasant and is chairman of the family-owned Hartnett Realty.^[1] The firm was created in 1947 by Catherine Forbes Hartnett and is one of the oldest^[2] Charleston real estate firms. He was a delegate to every Republican National Convention from 1980 to 2000. His son, Tom Hartnett Jr., currently serves in the South Carolina House of Representatives.

References

^ "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.
^ "Home". hartnettrealty.com.

Sources

United States Congress. "Thomas F. Hartnett (id: H000302)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Appearances on C-SPAN

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Mendel J. Davis	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 1st congressional district January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987	Succeeded by Arthur Ravenel, Jr.
Party political offices
Preceded by ???	Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina 1986	Succeeded by Henry McMaster
Preceded by Henry McMaster	Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from South Carolina (Class 3) 1992	Succeeded by Bob Inglis
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Anthony Brown as Former US Representative	Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative	Succeeded by Mick Mulvaney as Former US Representative