Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...
. He is the owner and managing attorney of the Hawkins Law Firm.
From 1996 through 2000 he served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He served as chairman of the Legislative Freshman Caucus.
In 2000 he was elected a Republican member of the
South Carolina Senate
The South Carolina 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 the sa ...
, representing the 12th district. In 2004 he narrowly won reelection defeating his primary challenger, Lee Bright by 31 votes. In 2008 Hawkins did not run for reelection.
In 2012, Hawkins challenged Lee Bright in the Republican primary for district 12, but was defeated.
While serving in the senate, Hawkins was a leading proponent of