American politician from South Carolina
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 the 1980s, 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]
Political career
S.C. Senate
Elections
Tenure
Peeler has served as a state senator for South Carolina since 1981.[1][2] He became Senate Majority Leader in 2005 after the resignation of Hugh Leatherman.[7][8] He resigned as Majority Leader in 2016, passing the position to A. Shane Massey.[9][10]
In Peeler's first year in the state senate, he formed a voting bloc with Hugh Leatherman.[11] In 1989, he was one of five Democratic South Carolina legislators to switch to the Republican Party from the Democratic.[12]
He has previously chaired the Senate Medical Affairs Committee, and served as vice-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee since 2007.[1] Peeler currently serves on the Senate Ethics, Interstate Cooperation, Medical Affairs and Transportation Committees.[13]
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."[14] He was one of only three state senators to vote against its removal, the other two being Danny Verdin and Lee Bright.[14][15] 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.[16] The 2000 vote was a compromise between anti- and pro-flag forces in the wake of an economic boycott of the state.[17]
Personal life
Peeler 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]
Peeler married Ila LaDonna Caudill on August 8, 1969, and they have three children: Brantlee Rene, Harvey Smith III, and Boone Solomon.[1] He is the brother of former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler. Peeler 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]
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