André Bauer

Bauer served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 to 2001. In 1999, Bauer was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in a special election. He was then re-elected in the 2000 general election and served in the State Senate until his inauguration as Lieutenant Governor on January 15, 2003.

He served on the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.

2002

He came in second in the Republican primary to fellow State Senator David L. Thomas of Greenville, but defeated Thomas in the runoff for the nomination. He then defeated fellow State Senator Phil P. Leventis, a Democrat from Sumter, in the 2002 general election for Lt. Governor, with more than 52 percent of the vote.[3]

2006

Bauer faced two primary challenges for re-election, and a general election in 2006. The first challenge was launched by Mike Campbell, son of former Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. (R). Bauer also faced Dr. Henry Jordan, founder of the South Carolina branch of the Christian Coalition. During the primaries, Bauer portrayed himself as the underdog in this three-way race, despite being an incumbent. His opponents outspent him 3 to 1 in the campaigns. In the course of the campaign, Campbell received the endorsements of former President George H.W. Bush, a friend of his father, and First Lady Jenny Sanford, the wife of Governor Mark Sanford.

The primary of June 13, 2006, ended with Mike Campbell receiving 47 percent of the vote, Andre Bauer 37%, and Henry Jordan 18%. As Campbell did not win a majority, he faced Bauer in a runoff election on June 27 for the Republican nomination. Bauer won the runoff with slightly over 51 percent of vote. He then narrowly defeated Democrat Robert A. Barber, Jr., a former state representative, attorney and lobbyist in the General Election. Bauer received 543,414 votes (50.08%), while Barber received 540,306 votes (49.79%).[4]

In 2008, Bauer supported legislation, enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly, that created a new state license plate containing the words "I Believe" and a Christian cross superimposed on a stained glass window.[5][6] The legislation was challenged in the case Summers v. Adams, in which the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina struck down the law.[7] In November 2009, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled on summary judgment that the "I Believe" Act violated the federal Constitution, and permanently enjoined the state from issuing the plates "I Believe" state license plates.[8] Judge Currie also noted:[8]

The "I Believe" Act had its genesis in Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer’s desire to do here what had been unsuccessful in the state of Florida–to gain legislative approval of a specialty plate promoting the majority religion: Christianity. Whether motivated by sincerely held Christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same. The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of its implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary (and expensive) litigation.

Sanford sex scandal

In the summer of 2009, Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for several days, leading to the exposure of an adulterous affair and allegations that he had committed numerous misdemeanors. This led to an investigation by the state commission on ethics and a threat of impeachment by the legislature. Had Sanford been impeached, Bauer would have become acting governor during the trial. However, in December 2009, legislative moves to impeach Sanford collapsed as the House Judiciary Committee voted instead merely to censure him.

Controversial comments on the poor

In January 2010, Bauer came under fire for comparing public school children who receive free lunches to stray animals who should not be fed.[9] "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer said during a town hall meeting. "You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't... think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better." Bauer made the comment as part of an argument that people should lose government benefits if they fail drug tests or don't attend parent-teacher conferences or Parent-Teacher Association meetings.[10] The Associated Press reported that Bauer was a child of divorce who benefited from free lunches himself.[11]