Santorum to begin SC tour in Florence

FLORENCE – Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will be in Florence on Saturday to kick off a statewide announcement tour after he announced on Wednesday that he was entering the 2016 race for the White House.

Santorum’s campaign said he will hold at town hall meeting at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology at 11:30 a.m. Saturday to discuss the need to “revitalize and rebuild the American manufacturing sector.”

Santorum will head to Fort Mill for two events later in the day and will make stops in Greenville and Travelers Rest on Sunday.

The Florence event, which will be on the campus of Florence-Darlington Technical College, is open to the public.

Santorum was elected to the House of Representatives in 1990 before defeating Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford in 1994. He won re-election in 2000 but lost his bid in 2006 to Democrat Bob Casey Jr.

Santorum came in third in the Jan. 21, 2012, South Carolina Republican primary, to Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Santorum is the seventh declared Republican candidate vying for the Republican Party nomination.

His events will cap a week of visits from other Republican candidates: Dr. Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

A possible Republican contender, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, was in North Charleston and Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday.

More Republicans are set to visit the Palmetto State next week, and there will some news from the state’s own Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham will announce his intention to seek the presidency from his hometown of Central, S.C., Monday morning.

Republican candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is scheduled to be in Columbia on Tuesday—the same day as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a possible Republican candidate.

South Carolina’s “First in the South” primary is set for Feb. 20, 2016.

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Santorum to begin SC tour in Florence."