GSA Technology Council

Senator, District 13, Spartanburg, Greenville and Union Counties
Majority Whip

Jim Ritchie was elected to the South Carolina Senate in November 2000. In his first term, Ritchie was instrumental in developing and securing passage of legislation such as the South Carolina Education Lottery Act and the deregulation of broadband technology. He was also the author of the South Carolina Venture Capital Act and the landmark Domestic Violence Prevention Act of 2003, which made domestic violence a felony in the state.

In a 2002 report by The State, after serving only two years, Ritchie was selected by his colleagues as one of the Ten Most Effective Senators in South Carolina. In 2003, the Maritime Association of the Port of Charleston honored Ritchie with its first Legislator of the Year award for his leadership in effecting expansion of the port.

Ritchie was named Majority Whip in 2004. That same year, he received the Golden Advocate Award from the South Carolina Solicitors’ Victim Advocates Forum for his leadership in restructuring the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network. The South Carolina Policy Council also presented him with its Palmetto Leadership Award in 2004 for his commitment to individual liberty, free enterprise and limited government.

In 2005, Ritchie successfully lead the fight to pass landmark tort reform, medical malpractice reform and economic development initiatives. Recognizing his leadership, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce named Ritchie its Public Servant of the Year. He was also named Legislator of the Year by the South Carolina Medical Association Alliance and the Spartanburg Medical Society. In addition, he received the W. Mack Chamblee Jr. Quality of Life Award from the South Carolina Association of Realtors and was the recipient of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation’s Founders Award. Most recently, Ritchie was honored by the Home Builders Association of South Carolina with the 2007 Hammer and Trowel Award.

Ritchie currently serves on the Banking and Insurance, General, Judiciary, Medical Affairs, and Rules committees. In November 2005, he was named chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, a screening board for all judicial nominees in South Carolina.

He is a shareholder in the Holcombe Bomar, P.A. law firm. He received his law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1986. He received his B.A. from West Virginia University in 1983 and graduated from the Fund for American Studies’ Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems at Georgetown University in 1983.

Ritchie is a Liberty Fellow. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, the Urban League of the Upstate, the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, the Peace Center for the Performing Arts and the Orthopedic Research Foundation of the Carolinas.

He and his wife, Evelyn, have three children: Caroline, 19; Jimmy, 17; and seven-year-old Anna Grace.