The Four Freshmen are just about the biggest thing since, well, The Four Freshmen, a renowned 1950s vocal group.
They’re South Carolina’s four first-term Republican U.S. House members, two-thirds of the current six-member delegation, all elected one year ago in a conservative-independent outpouring that brought control of the House to the GOP.
Tim Scott, a former Charleston County Council chairman and state legislator, won the open 1st Congressional District seat to become only the second current African-American Republican House member. Along the way, he brushed aside primary opponents that included Paul Thurmond, son of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, and Carroll Campbell III, son of the late governor. Of the four, Scott, perhaps, is the best-known because of the GOP’s desire to promote diversity and a combination of philosophical aggressiveness and laid-back affability.
Jeff Duncan, a Laurens auctioneer-commercial real estate dealer and four-term state House member, was elected in the 3rd District.
Trey Gowdy, former Spartanburg-Cherokee district solicitor (district attorney), ousted incumbent Republican Bob Inglis in the 4th District primary, aided by a conservative revolt over Inglis’ increasingly moderate views.
Mick Mulvaney, a lawyer-developer and state legislator from Indian Land, defeated Democratic Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. of York, chairman of the House Budget Committee and a reliable vote for the Obama White House.
They first drew national attention when they resisted the House Republican leadership’s entreaties, then outright arm-twisting to sign on to the debt deal. They are among the most conservative of a very conservative GOP class of 2010. The debt reduction deal was scorned by many conservatives and TEA Party activists as too little, too late. Its eventual approval – without South Carolina votes – was followed by Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the nation’s credit rating, an act that opponents saw as vindication of their votes.
Politico.com headlined an article on the four as “South Carolina vs. the world in House.” A Time.com piece proclaimed: “South Carolina’s conservative bloc poses a problem for GOP House leaders.” Businessinsider.com wrote that the S.C. members’ “refusal to bend to their party’s leadership in the face of intense pressure appears to be a turning point for the men, both as politicians and as friends.”
The Web site quoted Clemson University political scientist David Woodard, a long-time GOP activist, as saying, “These guys are heroes…down here.”
Not surprisingly, Democrats take a different tack. Dick Harpootlian, the colorful South Carolina party boss, told Charleston’s Post and Courier he isn’t worried about all the attention lavished on the four because their obstructionist actions guarantee challenges. “They’re acting like freshmen congressmen, inexperienced and immature, and I think that it is going to come back and haunt them,” he said.
In this climate, the fiscal hard line may have been their best political move. First, it was consistent with the debt reduction planks that were the focus of their campaigns and, second, by standing firm they diminished the likelihood of strong primary challenges. But the former, not the latter seems to have been the motivating element.
“They have a similar philosophy, and of course they come from a very conservative state so it is relatively easy for them to agree,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “Not all four districts are equally conservative, but in the Obama era they are unlikely to vote Democratic. The four congressmen are all, to one degree or another, Tea Party freshmen, and they have to be aware of how easily they could be challenged in a primary” should there be any backsliding.
While many in the large Republican freshmen class elected in 2010 hail from swing districts, three – Duncan, Gowdy and Scott – are from solidly GOP territory. Mulvaney, who ousted a long-time Democrat in his Pee Dee-Midlands district, may benefit from shifting political tides there.
During their campaigns last year, staff members and candidates alike referred to them as the “Four Horsemen” but shied away from using the phrase publicly rather than allow Democrats to suggest the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Once elected and discovered by the national media, alliteration prevailed, although in less mythologically-rooted designations, that began appearing in print and on-line, as in “The Fab Four” and “The Four Freshmen.”
The men are close. As Politico. com reported, their ties stand out: “They regularly pray together and are in near constant communication with one another about their votes. They dine together on Capitol Hill and play basketball in the House gym.”
All are in their mid-forties, three – Duncan, Mulvaney and Scott – had relatively brief legislative careers and business backgrounds, while Gowdy was a veteran, no-nonsense prosecutor. Duncan and Scott share a Capitol Hill apartment.
Another tie that binds is their close relationship with DeMint, South Carolina’s junior senator, who has emerged as a major power broker and spokesman for conservative values. Once the 2010 primaries were over, DeMint was a frequent source of guidance for the quartet, a practice that has continued in Washington. If DeMint is a part of the group’s present, he may well be a part of its future because it’s quite possible that one – or more – of the four will seek to replace him if, as the senator has stated, he won’t run for a third six-year term in 2016.
Although Duncan noted that the South Carolina Four aren’t always on the same page, the record suggests that on the big-time issues, they’re joined at the hips.