1. In 2010, John Spratt lost his seat to Republican challenger Mick Mulvaney.
25 Facts About John Spratt
2.
John Spratt was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 1,1942, and raised in York, South Carolina.
3.
John Spratt's father founded the Bank of Fort Mill and the York law firm where he would eventually practice.
4.
John Spratt served as student body president at both schools.
5.
John Spratt then earned an MA degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University in 1966 while studying on a Marshall Scholarship, and an LLB degree from Yale Law School in 1969.
6.
John Spratt was a captain in the Army from 1969 to 1971, serving in the Operations Analysis Group in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.
7.
John Spratt was county attorney and school board attorney, and president of the Bank of Fort Mill.
8.
John Spratt ran a small insurance agency and owned a farm in Fort Mill.
9.
John Spratt co-authored the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, putting the federal budget in surplus for the first time in 30 years.
10.
In 2003, John Spratt engineered an amendment which shifted $30 million in the defense appropriations bill to the Airborne Laser program.
11.
On March 24,2010, John Spratt was appointed to the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
12.
John Spratt became active in politics within the Democratic Party at an early age, and was elected delegate to the 1964 Democratic National Convention, which he attended at the age of 22.
13.
John Spratt was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, succeeding fellow Democrat Kenneth Holland.
14.
In 1994 John Spratt was nearly defeated by Republican Larry Bigham, only surviving by a margin of 6,300 votes.
15.
John Spratt defeated Bigham by a slightly larger margin in 1996, but from 1998 to 2008 Spratt usually won with relatively little difficulty due to his popularity and campaigning skills.
16.
John Spratt typically stayed out of presidential politics while he was a congressman because the national party was not popular in his district.
17.
Nonetheless, he was rumored to have been President Obama's pick as White House Budget Director, though President Obama instead chose Peter R Orszag, whom Spratt had helped hire as the director of the Congressional Budget Office.
18.
John Spratt was seen as particularly vulnerable due to his ties with the Democratic party leadership, his district's double-digit unemployment rate, and the district's growing Republican base.
19.
John Spratt lamented that Spratt was no longer fiscally conservative like he had once been in 1997 when he helped balance the nation's budget and criticized his relationship with Nancy Pelosi.
20.
John Spratt was among three Democratic US House chairmen who lost that year to Tea Party candidates.
21.
On May 31,1968, John Spratt married Jane Stacy of Filbert, South Carolina.
22.
John Spratt lived in York, South Carolina, where he was a member of the local First Presbyterian Church.
23.
John Spratt was active in the United Way and other civic and charity organizations.
24.
John Spratt was brother-in-law to Hugh McColl, CEO of Bank of America and NationsBank.
25.
John Spratt died from the disease at his home on December 14,2024, at the age of 82.