List of United States Senators from South Carolina

South Carolina ratified the Constitution on May 23, 1788. Its Senate seats were declared vacant in July 1861 owing to its secession from the Union. They were again filled from July 1868.

South Carolina Class 2 Senators

Class 2 U.S. Senators belong to the electoral cycle that were elected for two sessions of the U.S. Congress in the first election of 1788 and whose seats in recent years are contested in 1996, 2002, 2008, and 2014.

#	Senator		Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term
1	Pierce Butler		March 4 1789	October 25 1796	Pro-Administration	Charleston	Delegate to Constitutional Convention	1	1
					Anti-Administration			2
								3	2
					Democratic-Republican			4
2	John Hunter		December 8 1796	November 26 1798	Democratic-Republican	Newberry	U.S. Representative (S.C.-2)
								5
3	Charles Pinckney		December 6 1798	June 6 1801	Democratic-Republican	Charleston	Governor of South Carolina
								6	3
								7
4	Thomas Sumter		December 15 1801	December 16 1810	Democratic-Republican	Stateburg	U.S. Representative (S.C.-4)
								8
								9	4
								10
								11
5	John Taylor		December 31 1810	November 1816	Democratic-Republican	Columbia	U.S. Representative (S.C.-4)
								12	5
								13
								14
6	William Smith		December 4 1816	March 3 1823	Democratic-Republican	Yorkville	Judge of the South Carolina Circuit Court
								15	6
								16
								17
7	Robert Young Hayne		March 4 1823	December 13 1832	Jacksonian/Nullifier	Charleston	Attorney General of South Carolina	18	7
								19
								20
								21	8
								22
8	John C. Calhoun		December 29 1832	March 3 1843	Nullifier/ Democratic	Fort Hill	U.S. Vice President
								23
								24	9
								25
								26
								27	10
9	Daniel Elliott Huger		March 4 1843	March 3 1845	Democratic	Charleston	South Carolina Senate	28
10	John C. Calhoun		November 26 1845	March 31 1850	Democratic	Pendleton	U.S. Secretary of State	29
								30	11
								31
11	Franklin H. Elmore		April 11 1850	May 29 1850	Democratic	Columbia	President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina
12	Robert Woodward Barnwell		June 4 1850	December 8 1850	Democratic	Beaufort	President of South Carolina College
13	Robert Barnwell Rhett		December 18 1850	May 7 1852	Democratic	Charleston	U.S. Representative (S.C.-7)
								32
14	William F. De Saussure		May 10 1852	March 3 1853	Democratic	Columbia	Lawyer
15	Josiah James Evans		March 4 1853	May 6 1858	Democratic	Society Hill	Judge of the South Carolina Supreme Court	33	12
								34
								35
16	Arthur P. Hayne		May 11 1858	December 2 1858	Democratic	Charleston	Lawyer and Diplomat
17	James Chesnut, Jr.		December 3 1858	November 10 1860	Democratic	Camden	South Carolina Senate
								36	13
Vacant due to the Civil War and Reconstruction			November 10 1860	July 15 1868
								37
								38
								39	14
								40
18	Thomas J. Robertson		July 15 1868	March 3 1877	Republican	Columbia	Planter
								41
								42	15
								43
								44
19	Matthew C. Butler		March 4 1877	March 3 1895	Democrat	Edgefield	Confederate Army General	45	16
								46
								47
								48	17
								49
								50
								51	18
								52
								53
20	Benjamin R. Tillman		March 4 1895	July 3 1918	Democrat	Trenton	Governor of South Carolina	54	19
								55
								56
								57	20
								58
								59
								60	21
								61
								62
								63	22
								64
								65
21	Christie Benet		July 6 1918	November 5 1918	Democrat	Columbia	Lawyer
22	William P. Pollock		November 6 1918	March 3 1919	Democrat	Cheraw	South Carolina House of Representatives
23	Nathaniel B. Dial		March 4 1919	March 3 1925	Democrat	Laurens	Businessman	66	23
								67
								68
24	Coleman Livingston Blease		March 4 1925	March 3 1931	Democratic	Columbia	Governor of South Carolina	69	24
								70
								71
25	James F. Byrnes		March 4 1931	July 8 1941	Democrat	Spartanburg	U.S. Representative (S.C.-2)	72	25
								73
								74
								75	26
								76
								77
26	Alva M. Lumpkin		July 22 1941	August 1 1941	Democrat	Columbia	Associate Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
27	Roger C. Peace		August 1 1941	November 4 1941	Democrat	Greenville	Newspaper Publisher
28	Burnet R. Maybank		November 5 1941	September 1 1954	Democrat	Charleston	Governor of South Carolina
								78	27
								79
								80
								81	28
								82
								83
29	Charles E. Daniel		September 6 1954	December 23 1954	Democrat	Greenville	Businessman
30	Strom Thurmond		December 24 1954	April 4 1956	Democrat	Aiken	Governor of South Carolina
								84	29
31	Thomas A. Wofford		April 5 1956	November 6 1956	Democrat	Greenville	Lawyer
32	Strom Thurmond		November 7 1956	January 3 2003	Democrat	Aiken	U.S. Senator
								85
								86
								87	30
								88
					Republican
								89
								90	31
								91
								92
								93	32
								94
								95
								96	33
								97
								98
								99	34
								100
								101
								102	35
								103
								104
								105	36
								106
								107
33	Lindsey Graham		January 3 2003	Incumbent	Republican	Seneca	U.S. Representative (S.C.-3)	108	37
								109
								110

South Carolina Class 3 Senators

Class 3 U.S. Senators belong to the electoral cycle that were elected for three sessions of the U.S. Congress in the first election of 1788 and whose seats in recent years are contested in 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016.

#	Senator		Took office	Left office	Party	Residence	Background	Congress	Term
1	Ralph Izard		March 4 1789	March 3 1795	Pro-Administration	Charleston	Delegate to the Continental Congress	1	1
								2
								3
2	Jacob Read		March 4 1795	March 3 1801	Federalist	Charleston	Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives	4	2
								5
								6
3	John Ewing Colhoun		March 4 1801	October 26 1802	Democratic-Republican	Pendleton	South Carolina Senate	7	3
4	Pierce Butler		November 4 1802	November 21 1804	Democratic-Republican	Charleston	U.S. Senator
								8
5	John Gaillard		December 6 1804	February 26 1826	Democratic-Republican	Charleston/ Pendleton	President of the South Carolina Senate
								9
								10	4
								11
								12
								13	5
								14
								15
								16	6
								17
								18
								19	7
6	William Harper		March 8 1826	November 29 1826	Jacksonian	Charleston	Lawyer
7	William Smith		November 29 1826	March 3 1831	Jacksonian	Charleston	U.S. Senator
								20
								21
8	Stephen Decatur Miller		March 4 1831	March 3 1833	Nullifier	Camden	Governor of South Carolina	22	8
9	William C. Preston		November 26 1833	November 29 1842	Nullifier/Whig	Columbia	South Carolina House of Representatives	23
								24
								25	9
								26
								27
10	George McDuffie		December 23 1842	August 17 1846	Democratic	Edgefield	Governor of South Carolina
								28	10
								29
11	Andrew Butler		December 4 1846	May 25 1857	Democratic	Edgefield	Judge of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas
								30
								31	11
								32
								33
								34	12
								35
12	James Henry Hammond		December 7 1857	November 11 1860	Democratic	Beech Island	Governor of South Carolina
								36
Vacant due to the Civil War and Reconstruction			November 11 1860	July 16 1868
								37	13
								38
								39
								40	14
13	Frederick A. Sawyer		July 16 1868	March 3 1873	Republican	Charleston	Educator
								41
								42
14	John J. Patterson		March 4 1873	March 3 1879	Republican	Columbia	Banker	43	15
								44
								45
15	Wade Hampton III		March 4 1879	March 3 1891	Democrat	Columbia	Governor of South Carolina	46	16
								47
								48
								49	17
								50
								51
16	John L. M. Irby		March 4 1891	March 3 1897	Democrat	Laurens	Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives	52	18
								53
								54
17	Joseph H. Earle		March 4 1897	May 20 1897	Democrat	Greenville	Attorney General of South Carolina	55	19
18	John L. McLaurin		June 1 1897	March 3 1903	Democrat	Bennettsville	U.S. Representative (S.C.-6)
								56
								57
19	Asbury Latimer		March 4 1903	February 20 1908	Democrat	Belton	U.S. Representative (S.C.-3)	58	20
								59
								60
20	Frank B. Gary		March 6 1908	March 3 1909	Democrat	Abbeville	South Carolina House of Representatives
21	Ellison D. Smith		March 4 1909	November 17 1944	Democrat	Florence/ Lynchburg	Businessman	61	21
								62
								63
								64	22
								65
								66
								67	23
								68
								69
								70	24
								71
								72
								73	25
								74
								75
								76	26
								77
								78
22	Wilton E. Hall		November 20 1944	January 3 1945	Democrat	Anderson	Newspaper Publisher
23	Olin D. Johnston		January 3 1945	April 18 1965	Democrat	Spartanburg	Govern