Nick Theodore

American politician

Nick Andrew Theodore (born September 16, 1928) is a former American politician from South Carolina. He was the first Greek American elected to the South Carolina State Legislature. He served as a state representative from 1963 to 1966 and 1970 to 1978, a South Carolina state senator from 1967 to 1968 and from 1981 to 1986, and the 85th lieutenant governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Theodore was born in Greenville, South Carolina, to Andrew and Lula Theodore, Greek immigrants, the youngest of five children. Growing up he was involved with the St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral community in Greenville, and the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA). He spent a total of 24 years serving in the South Carolina state legislature before being elected in 1986 to the office of lieutenant governor having beaten Republican Congressman Thomas F. Hartnett to the position. He served two full terms in that post under Republican Governor Carroll Campbell. Ironically, it was fellow Greenville resident Campbell who, in 1978, had defeated Theodore in an election to the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district, one of famed political strategist Lee Atwater's first major triumphs. At the conclusion of Campbell's two terms in office, Theodore ran for governor in 1994, defeating Charleston mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. to secure the Democratic nomination. Theodore lost to Campbell's protégé David Beasley, however, in the general election. Four years later in 1998 he tried to regain his former post as lieutenant governor but lost in the general election to incumbent Bob Peeler (R). In 2002, Theodore came out of a quasi retirement to accept an interim appointment to the South Carolina Public Service Commission, ending in 2004. In 2006, his son, Drew Theodore, became the Democratic nominee for the statewide office of Comptroller General.