Jim Hodges
Encyclopedia
James Hovis "Jim" Hodges (born November 19, 1956) is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina
from 1999 until 2003.
, near the North Carolina
border. He attended Davidson College
and then the University of South Carolina
, where he graduated with a business degree in 1979. Later, Hodges earned a juris doctor
degree from the USC School of Law in 1982. After graduation, Hodges resettled in Lancaster to practice law. He became Lancaster County Attorney. In 1986 he started his political career at the age of 29 with a successful bid for the South Carolina House of Representatives
.
Hodges remained in the State House for eleven years, garnering the support of the National Federation of Independent Business
and the National Rifle Association
with his conservative voting record. While in the House, Hodges served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee from 1992 until 1994, and as House Democratic Leader from 1995 until 1997.
When Hodges ran for governor in 1998, it was as an underdog against his Republican opponent, incumbent governor David Beasley
.
Beasley's popularity made him a formidable opponent, but Hodges immediately began to focus on the state of South Carolina's education system, which had students finishing last in the nation on the SAT
exam in 1997.
Hodges cited Beasley's opposition to all-day kindergarten, and proposed a state lottery
that would give about $150 million a year to educational programs such as pre-school classes and college scholarships. The proposal helped Hodges gain ground over Beasley, who initially opposed the lottery but changed his mind a month before the election.
Beasley's missteps also helped Hodges pull ahead in the election. In the heated issue of whether the Confederate flag should be removed from the dome of the state Capitol, Beasley was initially in favor of allowing the flag to remain. In November 1996, he switched positions, calling for the removal of the battle flag to the Capitol grounds – a move to which some fellow Republicans reacted angrily.
Hodges won the gubernatorial race with a clear 53 percent to 45 percent margin, carrying nearly every rural county. He did especially well in the urban areas of Charleston County and Richland County home to South Carolina's capital, Columbia. In fact, Hodges became the first challenger in over a century to defeat a sitting governor in South Carolina.
, which is North America's longest cabled spanned bridge.
He endured harsh criticism for mistakes during the evacuation of Charleston and the Low Country during 1999's Hurricane Floyd
. Newspapers across South Carolina, particularly Charleston, chastised Hodges for not making traffic along South Carolina's I-26
one-way, to avoid the severe traffic jams that occurred as residents tried to flee the storm's path.
Hodges defended his evacuation plan, telling the press in 1999 that the process of moving hundreds of thousands of people inland still occurred in a timely manner. "I think we need to put things in perspective here," Hodges said. "This was the largest peacetime evacuation in the history of the United States, and it was all done in about a twelve or a twenty-four hour period. When you have 800,000 South Carolinians leaving the coast, coupled with over a million from other areas below us in Georgia and Florida, you're going to have traffic problems."
During his tenure, Hodges also signed a bill encouraging schools to get students to say "Yes, sir," and "Yes, ma'am" to teachers. He announced a plan to raise teacher salaries to the national average by 2007, and opposed tying the raises to teacher performance. However, despite his electoral promises on education, many South Carolina schools were severely underfunded during his term.
(R-Charleston). Like Hodges' 1998 bid, the race concentrated on issues such as education and the state budget. But South Carolina itself has become a solidly Republican state over the years, and Sanford defeated Hodges in the general election, 53 percent to 47 percent.
The governor endorsed General Wesley Clark
(D-Arkansas
) in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries
, but had U.S. Senator John Kerry
(D-Massachusetts
), the eventual nominee, actually defeated incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush
(R) in the 2004 general election
, many experts believe that Hodges would have been a leading contender for U.S. Secretary of Education. In late 2004, Governor Hodges briefly flirted with the idea of running for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee
.
In 2007, Hodges publicly supported Stephen Colbert
's attempt to run for president in the South Carolina primaries
, and even offered himself up as a vice presidential choice should the comedian actually win the nomination. In February of 2008 the former governor officially endorsed then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama
(D-Illinois
) in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries
. The Obama campaign, in turn, named Hodges as one of its national co-chairs.
Hodges and his wife Rachel live in Columbia with their two sons, Luke and Sam. He is an Episcopalian
.
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
from 1999 until 2003.
Early career
James Hovis Hodges grew up in Lancaster, South CarolinaLancaster, South Carolina
Lancaster is a city in Lancaster County, South Carolina which is in the United States and is located 35 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina and 20 miles east of Rock Hill, South Carolina. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 10,160. It is the county seat of...
, near the North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
border. He attended Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
and then the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
, where he graduated with a business degree in 1979. Later, Hodges earned a juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree from the USC School of Law in 1982. After graduation, Hodges resettled in Lancaster to practice law. He became Lancaster County Attorney. In 1986 he started his political career at the age of 29 with a successful bid for the South Carolina House of Representatives
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
.
Hodges remained in the State House for eleven years, garnering the support of the National Federation of Independent Business
National Federation of Independent Business
The National Federation of Independent Business is a lobbying organization with its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee and offices in Washington, D.C. USA, and in all 50 state capitals...
and the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
with his conservative voting record. While in the House, Hodges served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee from 1992 until 1994, and as House Democratic Leader from 1995 until 1997.
When Hodges ran for governor in 1998, it was as an underdog against his Republican opponent, incumbent governor David Beasley
David Beasley
David Muldrow Beasley is a Republican who served one term as the 113th Governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999....
.
1998 Campaign
Hodges had no opposition in the primary, but a poll taken in June 1998 showed he had only 43 percent name recognition across South Carolina. Beasley, meanwhile, trounced his Republican primary opponent, Bill Able, 72 percent to 28 percent.Beasley's popularity made him a formidable opponent, but Hodges immediately began to focus on the state of South Carolina's education system, which had students finishing last in the nation on the SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
exam in 1997.
Hodges cited Beasley's opposition to all-day kindergarten, and proposed a state lottery
South Carolina Education Lottery
The South Carolina Education Lottery began in 2002.South Carolina is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association , best known for Powerball...
that would give about $150 million a year to educational programs such as pre-school classes and college scholarships. The proposal helped Hodges gain ground over Beasley, who initially opposed the lottery but changed his mind a month before the election.
Beasley's missteps also helped Hodges pull ahead in the election. In the heated issue of whether the Confederate flag should be removed from the dome of the state Capitol, Beasley was initially in favor of allowing the flag to remain. In November 1996, he switched positions, calling for the removal of the battle flag to the Capitol grounds – a move to which some fellow Republicans reacted angrily.
Hodges won the gubernatorial race with a clear 53 percent to 45 percent margin, carrying nearly every rural county. He did especially well in the urban areas of Charleston County and Richland County home to South Carolina's capital, Columbia. In fact, Hodges became the first challenger in over a century to defeat a sitting governor in South Carolina.
Governor
As South Carolina's 114th governor, Hodges worked to add the Martin Luther King Holiday to the state's official calendars. He played an instrumental role in moving the Confederate flag from the state Capitol's dome to its grounds. He also instituted the construction of the New Cooper River Bridge in CharlestonCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, which is North America's longest cabled spanned bridge.
He endured harsh criticism for mistakes during the evacuation of Charleston and the Low Country during 1999's Hurricane Floyd
Hurricane Floyd
Hurricane Floyd was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd triggered the third largest evacuation in US history when 2.6 million coastal residents of five states were ordered from their homes as it approached...
. Newspapers across South Carolina, particularly Charleston, chastised Hodges for not making traffic along South Carolina's I-26
Interstate 26
Interstate 26 is a nominally east–west main route of the Interstate Highway System in the Southeastern United States. I-26 runs from the junction of U.S. Route 11W and U.S. Route 23 in Kingsport, Tennessee, generally southeastward to U.S. Route 17 in Charleston, South Carolina...
one-way, to avoid the severe traffic jams that occurred as residents tried to flee the storm's path.
Hodges defended his evacuation plan, telling the press in 1999 that the process of moving hundreds of thousands of people inland still occurred in a timely manner. "I think we need to put things in perspective here," Hodges said. "This was the largest peacetime evacuation in the history of the United States, and it was all done in about a twelve or a twenty-four hour period. When you have 800,000 South Carolinians leaving the coast, coupled with over a million from other areas below us in Georgia and Florida, you're going to have traffic problems."
During his tenure, Hodges also signed a bill encouraging schools to get students to say "Yes, sir," and "Yes, ma'am" to teachers. He announced a plan to raise teacher salaries to the national average by 2007, and opposed tying the raises to teacher performance. However, despite his electoral promises on education, many South Carolina schools were severely underfunded during his term.
2002 Campaign
In his 2002 bid for re-election, Hodges faced a very strong challenge from former U.S. Congressman Mark SanfordMark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011....
(R-Charleston). Like Hodges' 1998 bid, the race concentrated on issues such as education and the state budget. But South Carolina itself has become a solidly Republican state over the years, and Sanford defeated Hodges in the general election, 53 percent to 47 percent.
McGuire Woods Consulting
Today, the former governor is a senior advisor at McGuire Woods Consulting, LLC and partner at McGuireWoods, LLP law firm in Columbia, South Carolina. McGuire Woods Consulting is headquartered in Richmond VA and has offices in many southeastern states, Illinois, Washington DC, as well as Romania and London. McGuire Woods Consulting provides clients with advice and solutions for their government relations and business development needs at the state, federal or multi-state levels.The governor endorsed General Wesley Clark
Wesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
(D-Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
) in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2004
The 2004 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 U.S. presidential election...
, but had U.S. Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
(D-Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
), the eventual nominee, actually defeated incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
(R) in the 2004 general election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, many experts believe that Hodges would have been a leading contender for U.S. Secretary of Education. In late 2004, Governor Hodges briefly flirted with the idea of running for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
.
In 2007, Hodges publicly supported Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
's attempt to run for president in the South Carolina primaries
Stephen Colbert presidential campaign, 2008
On October 16, 2007, satirist Stephen Colbert officially announced that he would run for President of the United States. This came after weeks of being pressured to do so by the public and stating that he would need a sign, which came from Aragorn giving him the sword Anduril...
, and even offered himself up as a vice presidential choice should the comedian actually win the nomination. In February of 2008 the former governor officially endorsed then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
(D-Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
) in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
. The Obama campaign, in turn, named Hodges as one of its national co-chairs.
Hodges and his wife Rachel live in Columbia with their two sons, Luke and Sam. He is an Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
.