Ralph Norman

Ralph Warren Norman Jr. (born June 20, 1953) is an American politician and real estate developer who has served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 5th congressional district since 2017. His district includes most of the South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area, along with outer portions of the Upstate and Midlands. A member of the Republican Party, Norman served as the South Carolina state representative for the 48th district from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2017.

Norman won a special election after Mick Mulvaney vacated his seat in Congress upon being appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget by President Donald Trump. As of 2019, with a net worth of $18.3 million, Norman is the 28th wealthiest member of Congress. Govtrack.us ranked Norman as the most conservative member of the 117th Congress as of February 2023.

He advocated for the implementation of martial law to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden in January 2021.

Norman was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on June 20, 1953. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Presbyterian College in 1975.

Norman resides in Rock Hill, where he is a real estate developer at the Warren Norman Company, a business founded by and named after Norman's father.

In 2004, Norman was elected to serve District 48 in the South Carolina House of Representatives, winning a three-way Republican primary outright with 52% of the vote. After one term, Norman chose not to run for reelection so he could become the 2006 Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in South Carolina's 5th congressional district against John Spratt. He lost to Spratt.

On November 3, 2009, Norman defeated Democrat Kathy Cantrell in a special election to reclaim his old seat.

In December 2016, President Donald Trump nominated Mick Mulvaney for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). At the time, Mulvaney represented South Carolina's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Shortly after the nomination, and in anticipation that Mulvaney's seat in Congress would be vacated once the United States Senate confirmed him, Norman announced his intention to resign from the South Carolina House of Representatives to run for Congress.