16 Facts About Dick Harpootlian

Richard A "Dick" Harpootlian was born on January 23,1949 and is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the South Carolina Senate from the 20th district from 2018 to 2024.

Dick Harpootlian served as the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2013.

Dick Harpootlian previously served as solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina from 1991 until 1995.

Dick Harpootlian served as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Dick Harpootlian is of Armenian descent; his grandparents immigrated to the United States after fleeing their hometown of Harpoot in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide.

Dick Harpootlian earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clemson University and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Dick Harpootlian was elected solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina, serving from 1991 until 1995.

Dick Harpootlian ran for attorney general of South Carolina in 1994 losing to Charlie Condon in the general election.

Dick Harpootlian served as the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party twice.

Dick Harpootlian is credited with the party's decision to move the South Carolina primary earlier in the primary schedule.

Dick Harpootlian stalled the Senate vote on the measure although it later passed.

Dick Harpootlian drew further controversy in 2013 for remarks he made at the annual Jackson-Jefferson dinner of the state Democratic Party, where he said that they needed to "send Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from"; Haley is Indian-American with Sikh heritage, and her parents immigrated from India.

Dick Harpootlian's remarks were condemned as racist or xenophobic by Indian news outlets India Today, Firstpost, and Outlook.

Dick Harpootlian later apologized, claiming that he did not intend to target her ethnicity and that he wanted her to "go back to being an accountant in a dress store rather than being this fraud of a governor that we have".

Dick Harpootlian referred to Steyer as "Mr Moneybags" and suggested that he had purchased Govan's support.

Dick Harpootlian denied that his comments were racially motivated, State Sen.