Harvey Peeler
1st President of the South Carolina Senate
In office
January 8, 2019 – December 6, 2021
Preceded byOffice established[lower-alpha 1]
Succeeded byThomas C. Alexander
Member of the South Carolina Senate
Assumed office
January 14, 1981
Preceded byJohn Long
Constituency5th district (1981–1985)
14th district (1985–present)
Personal details
Born (1948-09-08) September 8, 1948
Gaffney, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (1989–present)
Other political
affiliations		Democratic (before 1989)
SpouseIla LaDonna
Residence(s)Gaffney, South Carolina, U.S.
EducationClemson University (BS)

Harvey Smith Peeler Jr. (born September 8, 1948) is an American politician.[1][2] He is a member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 14th District from since 1980, initially as a Democrat, and from October 1989, as a Republican. He was the Senate Majority Leader from 2005 to 2016[1] and president of the senate from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, he became Chair of the Finance Committee after the death of Hugh Leatherman.[3][4]

Early life and career

He was born on September 8, 1948, in Gaffney, South Carolina.[1] He received a Bachelor of Science from Clemson University in 1970.[1][2] He served as a lieutenant in the United States Army from 1970 to 1972.[1]

He is a dairyman.[1][2]

Political career

He has served as a state senator for South Carolina since 1981.[1][2] Peeler became Senate Majority Leader in 2005 after the resignation of Hugh Leatherman.[5][6] He resigned as Majority Leader in 2016.[7][8] In Peeler's first year in the state senate, he formed a voting bloc with Hugh Leatherman.[9] In 1989, he was one of five Democratic South Carolina legislators to switch to the Republican Party from the Democratic.[10]

He has served as chairman of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee since 2001, and vice-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee since 2007.[1] He is the brother of former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler.[1]

Confederate flag controversy

In 2015, after the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, which killed fellow State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney, Peeler voted against removing the Confederate flag. Peeler compared removing it to "removing a tattoo from the corpse of a loved one and thinking that that would change the loved one's obituary".[11] He was one of only three state senators to vote against its removal, the other two being Danny Verdin and Lee Bright.[11][12] Fifteen years earlier, Peeler was one of only seven senators who voted against the flag's removal from the top of the South Carolina Capitol Dome and both chambers of the South Carolina Legislature to its present position on the capitol grounds, arguing that the flag's removal would only worsen race relations.[13] The 2000 vote was a compromise between anti- and pro-flag forces in the wake of an economic boycott of the state.[14]

Personal life

He married Ila LaDonna Caudill on August 8, 1969, and they have three children: Brantlee Rene, Harvey Smith III, and Boone Solomon.[1] He attends Gaffney First Baptist Church.[1] He is a Mason and a Shriner.[1]

He is a member of the American Jersey Cattle Association and the American Legion.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ A constitutional amendment combined the offices of president pro tempore and lieutenant governor to create the president of the senate.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 South Carolina Senate biography
  2. 1 2 3 4 Official website
  3. ↑ "Harvey Peeler replaces Hugh Leatherman as Senate Finance Committee chairman". 6 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "SC Senate names Thomas Alexander new president as Harvey Peeler steps down". 8 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Peeler to Replace Leatherman as Majority Leader". 26 May 2005.
  6. ↑ "Peeler assumes Senate Republican leadership post".
  7. ↑ "Harvey Peeler to step down as Senate majority leader".
  8. ↑ "Massey Named New SC Senate Majority Leader". 6 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Wilks, Avery G.; Hobbs, Stephen (April 8, 2020). "How Hugh Leatherman took control of South Carolina's budget and built a political empire". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  10. ↑ "Politics: After 125 years, S.C. is becoming a two-party state". GoUpstate.com. Gannett Co., Inc. December 29, 1989. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  11. 1 2 Roldan, Cynthia; Kropf, Schuyler (6 July 2015). "S.C. Senate: Flag needs to come down; House vote next". The Post and Courier. Retrieved 6 July 2015. To remove the flag from the Statehouse grounds and thinking it would change history would be like removing a tattoo from the corpse of a loved one and thinking that that would change the loved one's obituary. That won't change history.
  12. ↑ Smith, Tim (6 July 2015). "Senate gives approval to remove Confederate flag; Third reading tomorrow". Greenville News. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Firestone, David. "S. Carolina Senate Votes To Remove Confederate Flag". The New York Times on the Web. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Braun, Stephen (13 April 2000). "South Carolina Senate Moves to End Stalemate on Confederate Flag". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
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