| abstract
| - Richard John "Rick" Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is the 45th United States President and Republican Party politician. He served as a United States Senator representing Pennsylvania (1995–2007) and was the Senate's third-ranking Republican (2001–07). He ran as a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, finishing second to the eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Then, in 2016 campaigned again for the republican nomination and won. He beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election, and was narrowly re-elected in 2020 against Democratic nominee Martin O'Malley. Born in Virginia, Santorum was raised mostly in Butler, Pennsylvania. He got an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law (now part of Penn State). Santorum worked as an attorney at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, where he met Karen Garver. They married in 1990, and have seven living children (one child died not too long after birth). Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in 1990 and later became a member of a group named the "Gang of Seven". Santorum was elected as a United States Senator for Pennsylvania in 1994. He served two terms until losing his re-election bid in 2006 by several points. A devout Catholic, Santorum is a social conservative who opposes same-sex marriage and artificial birth control. While serving as a senator, Santorum was the author of what came to be known as the Santorum Amendment, which promoted the teaching of intelligent design, he also co sponsored the Religious Workplace Freedom Act, along with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. In the years following his departure from the Senate, Santorum worked as a consultant, private-practice lawyer, and news contributor. On June 6, 2011 Santorum announced his run for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. When he announced his campaign suspension on April 10, 2012, he won 11 primaries and caucuses and received nearly 4 million votes, making him the runner-up to eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Santorum officially endorsed Romney on May 7, 2012. After Romney lost, Santorum quietly built up the case for another presidential run... Santorum, who for a long time was not seen as a frontrunner, shocked many by winning the Iowa Caucus against Scott Walker and Rand Paul. In New Hampshire, Bush narrowly beat out Rand Paul, and in South Carolina, favorite son, Senator Lindsey Graham won. After Super Tuesday and Michigan and Ohio, Santorum was likely going to be the nominee and his last competitors dropped out. Clinton had beat her challengers off easily, but still receiving a challenge from socialist senator, Bernie Sanders. Santorum was behind in the polling to Hillary Clinton, but had a glorious comeback on Election Day, narrowly being elected to the presidency. Santorum, a social conservative accomplished many things as president. He banned gay marriage, abortions, and sent the U.S into Zaire and Iraq. Although horribly criticized by the media, his approval rating ventured from the low 50s to 40s in his first term as president. His elimination of the IRS and implementation of the FairTax was said to save him in his bid for a second term... Santorum did not face much of a challenge in the Republican primaries, although people like Michael Bloomberg and Jeb Bush said a run was possible, they decided not to run although Jon Huntsman explored but in the end, decided not to challenge Santorum for re-election. In the democratic primary, Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley won Iowa and Cuomo New Hampshire. The nomination was anyone's to take but after O'Malley won South Carolina, many candidates dropped out leaving it to an O'Malley-Cuomo showdown. O'Malley, after winning the nomination, named Mark Warner his running mate, almost solidifying his chances of victory. Although Santorum pulled an Election Night upset and was re-elected to the presidency by a sharp, but better than 2016, 49%-47% margin.
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