Phil P. Leventis is a former member of the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina State Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at ...

who represented the 35th District from 1980 to 2012. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life, education and career

Born in

Lexington County, South Carolina Lexington County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 293,991. Its county seat and largest community is Lexington, South Carolina, ...

, Leventis graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1969. He then received his commission as second lieutenant from the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. He then became an air force pilot. Leventis retired from the

South Carolina Air National Guard The South Carolina Air National Guard (SC ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of South Carolina, United States of America. It is a reserve of the United States Air Force and along with the South Carolina Army National Guard an element of t ...

as Assistant Adjutant General for Air in 1999 after 30 years of service. During his service he amassed more than 3,600 hours of flying time, mostly in the

F-102 The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger is an interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Convair. A member of the Century Series, the F-102 was the first operational supersonic interceptor and delta-wing fighter op ...

, A-7, and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

, and flew 21 combat missions over

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

during

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. His grade upon retirement, Brigadier General, was federally recognized in March 1998.

Political career

South Carolina Senate

Leventis was elected to Senate District 35, a new district created during the 1980

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

process. It included portions of Lee County previously represented by Senator Edward Eli Saleeby. He remained Senator until 2012, when he opted not to run for re-election.

2002 Lieutenant Governor race

Leventis won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor and ran in the

2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, defeated incumbent Democratic governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th ...

with incumbent Governor

Jim Hodges James Hovis Hodges (born November 19, 1956) is an American businessman, attorney, and politician who served as the 114th governor of South Carolina from 1999 to 2003. A former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Hodges is t ...

. Hodges and Leventis were defeated in the general election by Republican gubernatorial nominee

Mark Sanford Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019, and as the 115th govern ...

and lieutenant governor nominee Andre Bauer.

2022 School board race

In 2022, Leventis was among thirteen candidates to file for a new Sumter School District seat. He was defeated in a runoff by Jeff Zell.

2025 School board race

In 2025, Leventis again filed for Sumter School District seat 8, after the seat held by Jeff Zell was vacated when Zell defeated incumbent Kevin L. Johnson in the State Senate 2024 race. Leventis faced Keith Schultz in a runoff, and defeated him to win the seat on February 25, 2025.

References

External links

South Carolina Legislature - Senator Phil P. Leventis
official SC Senate website
Project Vote Smart - Senator Phil P. Leventis (SC)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Phil P. Leventis
20062004200220001996
Senate campaign contributions
2002
Lieutenant Governor campaign contributions 1945 births Living people People from Lexington County, South Carolina University of Virginia alumni Businesspeople from South Carolina Democratic Party South Carolina state senators 20th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly 21st-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly {{SouthCarolina-politician-stub