Thomas F. Hartnett
Thomas Forbes "Tommy" Hartnett 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. 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.