Tom Rice

Hugh Thompson Rice Jr. (born August 4, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for SC's 7th congressional district from 2013 to 2023.

The district serves most of the northeastern corner of the state and includes Myrtle Beach, the Grand Strand, Florence, Cheraw, and Darlington.

Rice was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on August 4, 1957.

He was four years old when his parents divorced, and his mother, a teacher, took him and his brother Clay to Myrtle Beach.

Rice's first job was a busboy when he was 12, and he was variously a night shift fry cook, a grocery store bag boy, and miniature golf course manager while still in high school.

Rice was 16 when his father died.

Rice was offered a scholarship to Duke University but enrolled at the University of South Carolina, where he earned a bachelor's degree (B.S.) and in 1979, a master's degree in accounting.

In 1982, he earned a J.D. degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

After college, Rice worked at the accounting/consulting firm of Deloitte & Touche in Charlotte, where he earned his CPA certificate. In 1985 he returned to Myrtle Beach to practice tax law with the law firm Van Osdell, then established his own practice, Rice & MacDonald, in 1997.

A Republican, Rice was first elected in 2012 and was a member of the freshman class chosen to sit at the House Republican leadership table.

He was elected chair of the Horry County Council in 2010, serving until he resigned from the position on December 31, 2012, in order to take his seat in Congress.

Rice was elected to the U.S. House in 2012 as the first representative for the newly created 7th district.

He defeated Jay Jordan, Randal Wallace, Dick Withington, James Mader, Chad Prosser, Katherine Jenerette, and Renee Culler in the June 12 Republican primary to advance to a runoff.

In the June 26 runoff he defeated Andre Bauer.

Rice defeated Gloria Bromell Tinubu in the November 6 general election.

In December 2012, the House appointed Rice to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Small Business of the 113th Congress.

On January 8, 2013, Congressman Sam Graves appointed Rice chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access.

On January 22, 2013, Rice was appointed to the following subcommittees: Highways and Transit, Water Resources and Environment, and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

He said the appointments would allow him to work for the funding and construction of Interstate 73 as well as the dredging of the Georgetown Port.

On November 11, 2013, Rice was appointed to the water resources conference committee, which helped resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013.

The version that passed the House would allow for the dredging of the Georgetown port, a $33 million project that would boost the local economy; Rice said, "I have made it my goal to do whatever it takes to champion South Carolina's ports."

Rice has co-sponsored several pieces of legislation including Safe Schools Act of 2013, a bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and others.

Rice has pushed changes to port funding and offered victims help to replace Social Security cards and other federal documents after massive fire destroys 26 condo buildings.

Rice was reelected in 2014, defeating Democratic nominee Gloria Bromell Tinubu in a rematch of the 2012 election.

Rice was one of ten Republicans to vote to impeach Donald Trump in the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

In January 2021, the South Carolina Republican Party censured him for voting for the impeachment.

In 2022, Trump endorsed a primary opponent for his seat.

Rice lost the Republican nomination in the June 14 primary to South Carolina state representative Russell Fry, garnering less than 25% of the vote.

Rice was reelected in 2014, defeating Bromell Tinubu again, with 60.15% of the vote to her 39.85%.

On June 14, 2022, Rice lost the Republican nomination to Russell Fry by a landslide.

On December 18, 2019, Rice joined all House Republicans in voting against impeaching Trump on both articles.

In December 2020, Rice was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump.

Rice later said he had been mistaken in questioning the election.

On January 13, 2021, Rice was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump a second time.

As late as two days before the impeachment debate, he opposed impeaching Trump.

But Rice told The Post and Courier that Trump's response to the storming of the Capitol changed his mind.

He criticized Trump for neither offering condolences to those who were injured nor expressing regret about the two police officers who died.

In a press release, Rice also upbraided Trump for his lack of contrition.

Ultimately, Rice said, Trump's "utter failure" in the matter forced him to vote for impeachment.

He did so later that day, alongside nine other Republicans.