Queen City News

Political Report Card: SC 5th District Congressman Ralph Norman

ROCKHILL, S.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – Congressman Ralph Norman is asking for your vote again, but has he earned it? Chief Political Correspondent Emma Withrow has his political report card.

Norman is a native South Carolinian. He grew up in Rock Hill and takes pride in representing his hometown, which is currently the fifth district. But politics weren’t always one of Norman’s career goals. Throughout most of his life, he worked in his father’s construction business, Warren Norman Company.

“I’m from the private sector. I’m lucky because I ran a business. I know what money means. And the politicians think the money is theirs. And it’s not theirs,” Norman said.

Norman served in the South Carolina House of Representatives for eight years but took a short break to run for Congress in 2006. He lost that race against the longtime democrat incumbent, John Spratt, but now he’s going on his fifth year in Congress after winning a special election in 2017. 

South Carolina’s fifth district seat had opened up because Donald Trump had appointed Congressman Mick Mulvaney to a cabinet position. Once the vacancy was announced Norman swiftly resigned from the South Carolina House and started his second campaign for congress. He won the Republican nomination by a slim 221 votes and then won the general election with 51% of the vote.

Even though Norman has only been in the House of Representatives for two terms, he is already ranked the most politically conservative compared to the rest of the members, according to GovTrack.com. But despite his strong stance on divisive issues, Norman has sponsored almost 120 bills written by Democrats in the last two congresses.

“Everything starts with a conversation. And I’ve talked to a lot of them, even though we’re apart in our views and the way we vote, you know, you ought to talk to everybody and there are things you can agree on.”

Since the beginning of Norman’s political career, he promised the voters transparency and consistency. When looking back at his stance on major issues, it proved that he hasn’t shapeshifted.

“If the public sees fit to put the Republicans in, we’ve got to produce. We’ve got to have common sense legislation that balances the budget, that gets the military strong, puts money where it should be, not for frivolous things.”

Norman’s job isn’t just in Washington D.C. though, he says his constituents’ concerns in District 5 come first.

“The great part about Congress is you can do a lot of things people don’t realize. The passports, we help with the Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, that people have issues that we get involved with.I make probably 20 calls a week just out of the blue. I tell all my staff if you think somebody would appreciate a phone call from me, let me know the number, I’ll call them. And I learned a lot from that

Norman sits on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which basically serves to enforce a rule of law and to have people testify.  

After the Capital was attacked by rioters on January 6th, Norman disagreed with the way the investigation on the assault was handled.            

“Let’s have an investigation. Now they’re dragging it out into a national spectacle when we ought to be handling oversight.”

Norman has already announced his plans to run for re-election. He is in favor of term limits and has a bill in the works with 70 co-sponsors. So if he wins this next election, it would be his last term in congress under the premise of his own bill.

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