Rick Santorum is a former U.S. senator and presidential candidate who rose to national prominence with a surprise win in the 1990 congressional race and led efforts to expose corruption as part of the "Gang of Seven." Known for championing blue-collar conservatism, he authored landmark legislation including the Welfare Reform Act and the Combating Autism Act. Santorum ran a grassroots-driven campaign in 2012, winning 10 states and helping shape the policy foundation of the modern conservative movement. Today, he remains active as a political commentator, advisor to the Convention of States, and chair of Patriot Voices, while balancing family life and business ventures with his wife Karen and their eight children.
Rick Santorum burst on to the national stage at age 32, scoring the biggest upset of the 1990 congressional election beating a 14-year Democrat incumbent. He then led group of freshmen called the Gang of Seven to expose corruption in Congress, leading to the end of 40 years of Democrat control of the House. His house district was eliminated in redistricting in 1992 and he was put in almost a completely new district with a 28-year Democrat incumbent, but while President George H.W. Bush received 29% Rick got 61%!
Two years later he took on another incumbent Democrat to be the youngest senator ever elected from Pennsylvania. In a time of increasing division, Santorum had a remarkable record of accomplishment, authoring the Welfare Reform Act of 1997, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, Unborn Victims of Violence Act, the Combating Autism Act, the Syrian Accountability Act, the Iran Freedom and Support Act, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act, Multi-employer Pension Act and many others. He won reelection in 2000 and was the only conservative to win a state that the Republican nominee, George W. Bush, lost making him the last conservative senate candidate that won a state in the year that the Republican presidential nominee lost!
After losing his Senate race in the 2006 Democratic landslide, Rick decided to get back into the fray to contest the divisive and disastrous policies of President Obama by running for the 2012 Republican nomination. To say he was an underdog would be an understatement, he gathered little media attention and even less money, so he ran the most personally and grassroots intensive campaign in modern U.S. history, conducting almost 400 meetings and speeches in Iowa alone in the year leading to the caucus – with an average attendance of less than 15 people. But Rick won the biggest upset in Iowa Caucus history, eventually winning by 38 votes!
In spite of being outspent 4-1and brutal attacks by the media, he won 10 Republican primaries and caucuses, the most by a losing candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1976. Rick was successful in spite of the odds, because his blue-collar conservative message of promoting American manufacturing and energy, closing our southern border, helping blue-collar workers regain the American dream and restoring the American family resonated with Middle America.
In May of 2014 he wrote the book, Blue Collar Conservative, Recommitting to an America that Works. When Businessman Donald Trump heard Rick on the radio talking about his book, he invited him to New York. When he walked into his office, Trump was holding a copy of his book and said “someone needs to run for President on this book.” Rick is often credited with being the first candidate to provide the policy underpinnings of what has become MAGA.
Rick continues to stay involved with influencing the direction of our country through his insightful commentary on national cable news channels, having worked for FOX News, CNN and now Newsmax for a combined 14 years. In addition, he has been working the past 4 years as a senior advisor to the Convention of States advocating for an Article V convention to propose constitutional amendments to limit the power, jurisdiction and spending of the federal government.
Rick continues to chair and work with Patriot Voices, the PAC that was formed after his 2012 campaign to keep fighting for issues related to life, families and working Americans. Outside of politics Rick has plunged into the business world with both feet with his involvement as a founder, board member and investor in several companies involved in the health care, energy, environmental remediation, construction and grocery sectors. Most importantly, Rick and his beautiful loving wife Karen have been married for 35 incredible years and have been blessed with 8 of the best children ever, five of whom are married to amazing spouses and raising 10 grandchildren, the oldest of which is 3.
