Floyd Spence
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Floyd Spence
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| In office January 3, 1971 – August 16, 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Albert Watson |
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| Succeeded by | Joe Wilson |
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| Born | April 9, 1928 Columbia, South Carolina |
| Died | August 16, 2001 (aged 73) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Democrat (c. 1946-1962) Republican (1962-2001) |
Floyd Davidson Spence (April 9, 1928–August 16, 2001) was a Republican politician from South Carolina.
Spence was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1928, but spent most of his life in nearby Lexington County. Shortly after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, retiring as a captain in 1988. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English in 1952 and earned his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law four years later.
Just after leaving law school, Spence was elected to represent Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives as a Democrat. He was reelected in 1958 and 1960. However, on April 14, 1962, Spence became the first elected official at any level in South Carolina to switch to the Republican Party. He was very uncomfortable with the national Democrats' increasingly liberal platform, and also opposed a loyalty oath required by the state Democrats. On the same day, he announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for the state's 2nd congressional district, based in Columbia. He'd been asked by several of his friends to run before his switch, especially after the death of its previous congressman, John J. Riley, but declined. He faced fellow state representative Albert Watson of Columbia in November and wasn't given much of a chance.
At the time, the Democratic Party was virtually the only party in South Carolina, and Democratic presidential candidates frequently won the state with close to 90% of the popular vote. Indeed, Spence's party switch made him the first Republican in either house of the state legislature since Reconstruction. However, he only lost to Watson by five percentage points. In the same year, Senator Olin Johnston faced the first credible Republican challenger in a South Carolina Senate race in decades. These two contests are largely credited with beginning the rise of the Republican Party in South Carolina. In 1966, Spence was elected to the South Carolina Senate, becoming the chamber's lone Republican. He was reelected in 1968, and naturally became minority leader when he was joined by other Republicans that year.
In 1970, Spence ran for the 2nd Congressional District again. Watson, who had defeated Spence eight years before, had become a Republican in 1965 and was running for governor. This time, it was Spence who won a narrow victory. He became the first freshman Republican congressman from South Carolina since Reconstruction. He was unopposed for reelection in the gigantic Republican landslide of 1972 and reelected 14 times thereafter. Early on, he established himself as one of the most conservative members of the House. His first bill in his freshman year was the first-ever balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.
In 1974, Spence he defeated Matthew J. Perry, South Carolina's first African American U.S. District Court judge, in what was otherwise a very bad year for Republicans. He didn't face credible opposition again until 1980, when attorney Tom Turnipseed ran against him. However, one of Spence's consultants, Lee Atwater, ran several "push polls"-- a new tactic at the time--informing voters that Turnipseed was a member of the NAACP. This episode is covered in the award-winning documentary film Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.
Due to this and Ronald Reagan's strong performance in the district, Spence was reelected with 55 percent of the vote. After cruising to reelection in 1982 and 1984, he only won by seven points in 1986. He faced another tough campaign in 1988. However, he was unopposed for reelection in 1990 in part due to the 1990s round of redistricting. For his first 11 terms, Spence represented a relatively compact district in the central portion of the state. However, the 1990s round of redistricting shifted nearly all of his black constituents to the majority-black 6th District. To make up for the loss in population, Spence's district was pushed well to the south and west, as far south as Hilton Head Island and as far west as the fringes of the Augusta suburbs. Any Democrat who ran against him in 1990 would have faced almost certain defeat in 1992 when the new lines came into effect. Spence didn't face a Democratic opponent again until 1998.
Spence became ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee in 1993; he'd been a member of the committee since his first term. The 2nd includes several military bases, including Fort Jackson. He became the committee's chairman in 1995 after the Republicans took control of the House. He renamed the Armed Services Committee the "Committee on National Security" when he took over as chairman. He focused on military readiness, calling it "the best insurance we have both for peace and freedom." He stepped down as chairman after the 106th Congress due to caucus-imposed term limits.
Spence died on August 16, 2001, at the age of 73 from complications following brain surgery, only eight months into his 16th term. He was succeeded by State Representative Joe Wilson, who had been an aide to Spence in the 1970s.
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| United States House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by Albert Watson |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 2nd congressional district January 3, 1971 – August 16, 2001 |
Succeeded by Joe Wilson |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Ron Dellums California |
Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee 1995 – 2001 |
Succeeded by Bob Stump Arizona |
