Ralph Norman

Ralph Warren Norman Jr. (born June 20, 1953) is an American real estate developer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for SC's 5th congressional district since 2017.

His district includes most of the South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area, along with outer portions of the Upstate and Midlands.

He received a bachelor's degree in business from Presbyterian College in 1975.

Norman resides in Rock Hill, where he is a real estate developer at the Warren Norman Company, a business founded by and named after Norman's father.

In 2004, Norman was elected to serve District 48 in the South Carolina House of Representatives, winning a three-way Republican primary outright with 52% of the vote.

A member of the Republican Party, Norman served as the South Carolina state representative for the 48th district from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2017.

Norman won a special election after Mick Mulvaney vacated his seat in Congress upon being appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget by President Donald Trump.

After one term, Norman chose not to run for reelection so he could become the 2006 Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in South Carolina's 5th congressional district against John Spratt.

He lost to Spratt.

On November 3, 2009, Norman defeated Democrat Kathy Cantrell in a special election to reclaim his old seat.

As of the 117th Congress, Norman voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 2% of the time according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

In December 2016, President Donald Trump nominated Mick Mulvaney for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

At the time, Mulvaney represented South Carolina's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

Shortly after the nomination, and in anticipation that Mulvaney's seat in Congress would be vacated once the United States Senate confirmed him, Norman announced his intention to resign from the South Carolina House of Representatives to run for Congress.

On May 16, 2017, Norman won a Republican primary runoff election against Tommy Pope by a margin of 0.6%, triggering an automatic recount per South Carolina state law.

Following that recount, the South Carolina State Election Commission certified Norman as the Republican nominee on May 19, 2017.

With 35,425 votes cast, Norman received 17,823 to Pope's 17,602, a 221-vote difference.

Having secured the Republican nomination, Norman faced Democratic nominee Sumter attorney Archie Parnell in a special election on June 20.

Norman received 51.0% of the vote to Parnell's 47.9%.

Norman was sworn into office on June 26, 2017.

On March 19, 2018, Norman filed for reelection with the South Carolina Election Commission.

Facing no primary challengers, he secured the Republican party nomination after the primary election on June 12.

Meanwhile, Parnell chose to run again for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District seat.

He defeated three opponents to win the Democratic nomination, and faced Norman again in the general election.

The general election was on November 6.

Norman was reelected with 57.0% of the vote to Parnell's 41.5%.

State and national Democrats had distanced themselves from Parnell after news broke that he had abused his first wife.

On September 20, 2018, at an election debate for the Republican nomination, Norman joked about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

He kicked off the debate by asking the audience, "Did y'all hear this latest late-breaking news on the Kavanaugh hearings?... Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out saying she was groped by Abraham Lincoln."

At a public meeting for constituents on April 6, 2018, Norman engaged in a conversation with representatives from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA).

During that conversation, he placed his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun on the table to illustrate his belief that "gun violence is a spiritual, mental or people issue, not a gun issue."

According to Norman, the loaded firearm was visible for "maybe a minute, or two minutes" and was never pointed at any individual, but MDA representatives who were seated at the table with Norman said the firearm was visible for "five to 10 minutes" and that they felt unsafe.

As of 2019, with a net worth of $18.3 million, Norman is the 28th wealthiest member of Congress.

Govtrack.us ranked Norman as the most conservative member of the 117th Congress as of February 2023.

He advocated for the implementation of martial law to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden in January 2021.

Norman was born in York County, South Carolina.

Norman filed for reelection on March 16, 2020.

He secured the Republican nomination after facing no Republican challengers in the primary election on June 12.

Norman went on to defeat Democrat Mauricus "Moe" Brown in the general election on November 3.

He received 60.1% of the vote to Brown's 39.9%.