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What’s Jim DeMint up to?

December 14, 2009 — US Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has begun to make a name for himself in national politics. Not content to pursue his own hard-line conservative course in the Senate, he has begun to encourage the election of Republicans of similar outlook across the nation.

DeMint has his own political action committee, the Senate Conservatives Fund, which is frequently at odds with the choices -- stated or assumed -- of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s official body for electing members of the upper chamber.

In Florida's 2010 GOP Senate primary, DeMint endorsed conservative underdog Marco Rubio, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, against more moderate Gov. Charlie Crist. He is also backing senate candidate Chuck DeVore in California against the establishment candidate, John McCain enthusiast Carly Fiorina. And more recently, he endorsed long-shot Senate contender Michael Williams, a member of the powerful Texas Railroad Commission (it regulates oil and gas) and the state’s first African-American elected statewide. (Williams, as of Sept. 30, had only $118,000 in his campaign account.) DeMint is also considering endorsing Rand Paul in Kentucky’s GOP primary.

All of this has led to speculation about DeMint’s intentions. If his bets pay off, he will be owed some substantial political debts. Will his reward be, as some home-staters believe, a more conservative US Senate more in line with DeMint’s conservative views? Or will he, like so many senators, make a run for the White House?

DeMint is more conservative than his fellow South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, but the gap is not wide. National Journal rated DeMint 92 percent conservative in 2008, compared to 85 percent for Graham. But DeMint’s high-profile rightward stance has been apparent in the Senate’s deliberations on health care reform, on social as well as fiscal issues. During the Senate’s health care debate this past weekend, DeMint attacked the bill for encouraging the use of medical marijuana and the needle-exchange program to combat HIV in the District of Columbia.

SPR talked with some of the folks in the Palmetto State who are part of the GOP fabric. Whether DeMint has further ambitions for himself isn’t clear. What is clear, however, is that he is an ideologically-driven man who wants to move the nation to the right. In any case, he gets strong support back home.

“DeMint’s stock is up,” says Gay Suber, a political consultant in Columbia and former long-time executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party. “The disgruntled Republicans, and they are numerous in this state, love this guy. ‘He’s one of us; he’s solid. You can depend on him,’ they say.” He adds, “A lot of the senators up there (Washington) don’t think he’s cooperating enough, but the biggest problem the country has is they have been cooperating too much.”

Is DeMint running for president? “I don’t think so… He doesn’t have the ego for that,” says Suber. “He is a genuine, true, hardcore conservative to his bone marrow. He’s just trying to get more conservatives elected.”  

Former state Rep. Skipper Perry of heavily Republican Aiken County has a similar belief. DeMint “is just trying to change the agenda to his liking, just like everybody else.”

And Lexington County political consultant Rod Shealy notes that “DeMint is trying to claim ideological ground with the TEA Party folks. There is a vacuum of leadership and DeMint is stepping in… He’s carving out a pretty good chunk of the right,” which could or could not indicate White House ambitions.

However, Chip Felkel, a Greenville consultant, notes that DeMint “has developed a national following. Anything is possible.”

 (One caveat about a DeMint presidential bid: As a newcomer to the national spotlight, DeMint is reportedly not very good on television.)

While DeMint has been endorsing candidates in Republican primaries across the nation, he is staying out of the intra-party contests in South Carolina. DeMint -- who is up for re-election this year against weak opposition -- has not taken any overt steps to intervene in the 2010 gubernatorial race in South Carolina. That could be because it would be hard to detect any philosophical differences between the leading candidates, Congressman Graham Barrett (97 percent conservative, says National Journal) and crime-fighting state Attorney General Henry McMaster. “Henry McMaster is a pretty conservative guy,” notes Felkel.

However, there are some ties between DeMint and Barrett. A former aide to DeMint is now working in Barrett’s campaign and high-powered consultant Warren Tompkins has worked for both Barrett and DeMint. Recently, when former US Sen. -- and probable presidential candidate -- Rick Santorum (R-PA) addressed a Barrett fundraiser, a Santorum press release compared Barrett to DeMint but made no mention of Graham. And McMaster and Graham both backed McCain for the 2008 presidential nomination.

In 2010, DeMint will face what should be an easy re-election. Two Democrats, both unknown to the electorate, are competing to run against DeMint: Personal injury lawyer Chad McGowan, a self-proclaimed moderate, and retired automotive industry manager Mike Ruckes. Neither has yet filed a financial report. DeMint had a very substantial $2,860,000 on hand as of Sept. 30.

A Rasmussen survey of South Carolina Republicans taken in early December showed that 51 percent believe the GOP should be more like DeMint, to 32 percent who believe it should be more like Graham. And DeMint gets a favorable rating from 85 percent of the state’s Republicans. However, his national involvement may have a cost: According to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, also taken in early December, 41 percent of South Carolina voters said DeMint was focusing too much on his national political goals, to only 29 percent who said his priority was home-state concerns. The poll also said DeMint would beat an unnamed Democratic foe by 47 percent to 38 percent.