Senator Rick Santorum has been involved in politics from when he was a teenager, and now he is running for the Office of the President of the United States. As a former United States Representative and Senator, Santorum has been involved in politics in one way or another since the 1970’s. A man on a mission, Santorum is going to need to turn his campaign around if he plans on being the GOP’s nomination for President, especially considering he’s only polling at around 0.5%, compared to Donald Trump’s 34.4%.
Born in Winchester, Virginia on May 10, 1958 to an Italian immigrant father, Aldo Santorum and American mother Catherine, Santorum grew up in Berkley County, West Virginia and Butler County, Pennsylvania. Santorum eventually moved to Mundelein, Illinois, a product of his parents being transferred to the Naval Station Great Lakes. This allowed for Santorum to graduate from Carmel High School, in 1976. He then went on to study and graduate from Pennsylvania State University, with a B.A. in Political Science. While at Penn State, Santorum was the chairman of the school’s College Republicans chapter (the author’s personal favorite club). After graduating, Santorum went on to gain his MBA from Penn State and then his Juris Doctor in 1986, from the Dickinson School of Law.
Fast forward to 1990, at the age of 32, Santorum became the Representative for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional district. As a member of the “Gang of Seven”, Santorum was one of seven senators who exposed members of the House who were involved in a banking scandal. in 1995, santorum began his tenure in the United States Senate, where from 2001-2007 he was the Senate’s third ranking Republican. As the chairmain of the Senate Republican Conference, he was in charge of the public relations for the Senate Republicans and was constantly a spokesperson for the party. In 2006 Santorum sought reelection to the Senate for the third time. The whole campaign was filled with controversey, due to Santorum’s book “It Takes a Family” and several statements within it that was controversial to the centrist voters of Pennsylvania. He lost the election to Bob Casey, Jr., losing by over 700,000 votes.
After leaving the Senate, Santorum began practicing as a private attorney. Many people were speculating that Santorum would be running for President in 2008 and then the Governor of Pennsylvania in 2010, but to no avail. Santorum reenetered politics in 2012, in the race for the Presidency. He had to drop out of the race, due to health problems with his daughter. He was the runner up to the eventual Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
Santorum has a large family, mainly because of his strong Catholic values and staunch stance on birth control. With 7 living children (one died hours after being born), Santorum’s large family and strong catholic values has been a huge factor in his political life and real life. Santorum has a very large following within the evangelical movement.
