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Rick Santorum
Santorum in 2017
Chair of the Senate Republican Conference
In office January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2007
Leader	Trent Lott Bill Frist
Preceded by	Connie Mack III
Succeeded by	Jon Kyl
United States Senator from Pennsylvania
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Harris Wofford
Succeeded by	Bob Casey Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 18th district
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Doug Walgren
Succeeded by	Mike Doyle
Personal details
Born	Richard John Santorum (1958-05-10) May 10, 1958 (age 66) Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Karen Garver ​(m. 1990)​
Children	8
Education	Pennsylvania State University (BA) University of Pittsburgh (MBA) Dickinson School of Law (JD)
Signature
Website	www.ricksantorum.com
Rick Santorum's voice Rick Santorum on necessary actions after the September 11 attacks Recorded September 12, 2001

Richard John Santorum (/sænˈtɔːrəm/ san-TOR-əm; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, author, and political commentator who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007. He was the Senate's third-ranking Republican during the final six years of his tenure. He also ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in the 2012 Republican primaries, finishing second to Mitt Romney.

Santorum was elected to the United States Senate from Pennsylvania in 1994. He served two terms until losing his 2006 reelection bid to his opponent, Bob Casey. A Roman Catholic, Santorum is a social conservative who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and embraced a cultural warrior image during his Senate tenure. While serving as a senator, Santorum authored the Santorum Amendment, which would have promoted the teaching of intelligent design. He was a leading sponsor of the 2003 federal law known as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

In the years following his departure from the Senate, Santorum has worked as a consultant, private practice lawyer, and news contributor. He ran for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Before suspending his campaign on April 10, 2012, Santorum exceeded expectations by winning 11 primaries and caucuses and receiving nearly four million votes, making him the runner-up to eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Santorum ran for president again in 2016, but ended his campaign in February 2016 after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. In January 2017, he became a CNN senior political commentator. However, he was terminated from his contract with CNN in May 2021 due to comments he made about Native Americans a few weeks prior which were deemed "dismissive".

Early life and education

Richard John Santorum was born in Winchester, Virginia. He is the second of the three children of Aldo Santorum (1923–2011), a clinical psychologist who immigrated to the United States at age seven from Riva, Trentino, Italy, and Catherine (Dughi) Santorum (1918–2019), an administrative nurse who was of Italian and Irish ancestry.

Santorum grew up in Berkeley County, West Virginia, and Butler County, Pennsylvania. In West Virginia, his family lived in an apartment provided by the Veterans Administration. Santorum attended elementary school at Butler Catholic School and then went on to Butler Senior High School. He was nicknamed "Rooster", supposedly for both a cowlick strand of hair and an assertive nature, particularly on important political issues. After his parents transferred to the Naval Station Great Lakes in northern Illinois, Santorum attended the Carmel High School in Mundelein, Illinois, for one year, graduating in 1976.

Santorum attended Pennsylvania State University for his undergraduate studies, serving as chairman of the university's College Republicans chapter and graduating with a B.A. degree with honors in political science in 1980. While at Penn State, Santorum joined the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. He then completed a one-year M.B.A. program at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1981. In 1986, Santorum received a J.D. degree with honors from Dickinson School of Law.

Early career

Santorum first became actively involved in politics in the 1970s through volunteering for Senator John Heinz, a Republican from Pennsylvania (whose seat Santorum himself would later occupy). Additionally, while in law school, Santorum was an administrative assistant to Republican state senator Doyle Corman, serving as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Senate Local Government Committee from 1981 to 1984, then Executive Director of the Senate Transportation Committee.

After graduating, Santorum was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and practiced law for four years at the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a firm known for raising political candidates and lobbyists (later named K&L Gates). As an associate, he successfully lobbied on behalf of the World Wrestling Federation to deregulate professional wrestling, arguing that it should be exempt from federal anabolic steroid regulations because it was entertainment, not a sport. Santorum left his private law practice in 1990 after his election to the House of Representatives.

U.S. House of Representatives (1991–1995)

Having been groomed by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Santorum decided Democratic congressman Doug Walgren was vulnerable, and took up residence in Walgren's district. Needing money and political support, he courted GOP activist and major donor Elsie Hillman, the chair of the state Republican Party. In 1990, at age 32, Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. He scored a significant upset in the heavily Democratic district, defeating seven-term Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren by a 51% to 49% margin. During his campaign Santorum repeatedly criticized Walgren for living outside the district for most of the year. Although the 18th District was redrawn for the 1992 elections, and the new district had a 3:1 ratio of registered Democrats to Republicans, Santorum still won reelection with 61% of the vote.

In 1993, Santorum was one of 17 House Republicans who sided with most Democrats to support legislation that prohibited employers from permanently replacing striking employees. He also joined a minority of Republicans to vote against the North American Free Trade Agreement that year. As a member of the Gang of Seven, Santorum was involved in exposing members of Congress involved in the House banking scandal.

U.S. Senate (1995–2007)

Elections

Santorum served in the United States Senate representing Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007. From 2001 until 2007, he was the Senate's third-ranking Republican. He was first elected to the Senate during the 1994 Republican takeover, narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Harris Wofford, 49% to 47%. The theme of Santorum's 1994 campaign signs was "Join the Fight!" During the race, he was considered an underdog, as his opponent was 32 years his senior. He was reelected in 2000, defeating U.S. congressman Ron Klink by a 52% to 46% margin. In his reelection bid of 2006, he lost to Democrat Bob Casey, Jr. by a 59% to 41% margin.

Tenure

After his election to the Senate in 1994, Santorum sought to "practice what preached" and hired five people for his staff who were on welfare, food stamps, or other government aid.

In 1996, Santorum served as Chairman of the Republican Party Task Force on Welfare Reform, and contributed to legislation that became the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. Santorum was an author and the floor manager of the bill. In 1996, Santorum endorsed moderate Republican Arlen Specter in his short-lived campaign for president. Reporters have observed that though Santorum and Specter differed on social policy, Specter provided him with key political staff for his successful run in 1994.

The National Taxpayers Union, a fiscal conservative organization, gave Santorum an "A−" score for his votes on fiscal issues, meaning that he was one of "the strongest supporters of responsible tax and spending policies" during his tenure, and ranked fifth in the group's rankings out of 50 senators who served at the same time.

Legislative proposals

Religious freedom initiatives

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In 2002, Santorum was a co-sponsor of that year's attempt to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). The bill had first been introduced in the Senate by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in 1996, having been introduced in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in 1994. Although Santorum was in the Senate at the time, he was not a sponsor of the bill when it was introduced in 1996, or when it was reintroduced in 1997 and 1999. Once signed on as a co-sponsor, Santorum remained so throughout his tenure in the Senate.

Santorum founded the Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom in 2003. The group included members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and met monthly to address issues such as the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, tax-exempt status for churches, the CARE act, international religious freedom, and antisemitism.

Teaching of evolution and intelligent design

Santorum added to the 2001 No Child Left Behind bill a provision that would have provided more freedom to schools in teaching about the origins of life, including the teaching of the pseudoscience of intelligent design alongside evolution. The bill, with the Santorum Amendment included, passed the Senate 91–8 and was hailed as a victory by intelligent design promoters, but before it became law, scientific and educational groups successfully urged its conference committee to strike the Santorum Amendment from the final version. Intelligent design supporters in Congress then preserved the language of the Santorum Amendment in the conference committee report of the bill's legislative history. The Discovery Institute and other intelligent design proponents point to this report as "a clear endorsement by Congress of the importance of teaching a variety of scientific views about the theory of evolution."

In 2002, Santorum called intelligent design "a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes", but by 2005 he had adopted the Teach the Controversy approach. He told National Public Radio, "I'm not comfortable with intelligent design being taught in the science classroom. What we should be teaching are the problems and holes ... in the theory of evolution." Later that year, Santorum resigned from the advisory board of the Christian-rights Thomas More Law Center after the Center's lawyers lost a case representing a school board that had required the teaching of intelligent design. Santorum, who had previously supported the school board's policy, indicated he had not realized that certain members of the board had been motivated by religious beliefs. Santorum critics said he was backtracking from his earlier position because he was facing a tough reelection fight in 2006. When asked in November 2011 about his views on evolution, Santorum stated that he believes that evolution occurred on a tiny, micro level.

National Weather Service Duties Act

Santorum introduced the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, which aimed to prohibit the National Weather Service from releasing weather data to the public without charge where private-sector entities perform the same function commercially. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association was organizing a lobbying effort in opposition to the legislation, but it never passed committee. The motivations for the bill were controversial, as employees of AccuWeather, a commercial weather company based in Pennsylvania, donated $10,500 to Santorum and his PAC. The liberal advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington cited the bill as one of several reasons for listing Santorum as one of its "most corrupt politicians". In support of the bill, Santorum criticized the National Weather Service in September 2005, saying its evacuation warnings for Hurricane Katrina were "insufficient".

Foreign policy

Santorum supports the War on Terror and shares the views of neoconservatives and the Bush Doctrine in regard to foreign policy. He felt the War in Iraq was justified and in 2006 declared that weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) had been found in Iraq. Santorum made the declaration regarding WMDs based in part on declassified portions of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. The report stated that coalition forces had recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions that contain degraded or vacant mustard or sarin nerve agent casings. The specific weapons he referred to were chemical munitions dating back to the Iran–Iraq War that were buried in the early 1990s. The report stated that while agents had degraded to an unknown degree, they remained dangerous and possibly lethal. Officials of the Department of Defense, CIA intelligence analysts, and the White House have all explicitly stated that these expired casings were not part of the WMDs threat that the Iraq War was launched to contain.

Santorum has said the war on terror can be won and is optimistic about U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan in the long term. He has defended the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, including waterboarding, and stated that John McCain, who opposed the practice, "doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works." Santorum called the War in Afghanistan "a very winnable operation" in 2012, dismissing efforts for withdrawal by 2014. He similarly criticized President Obama's foreign policy, saying he was "not focused on trying to win the war" in Afghanistan, and said he was against any withdrawal in Iraq in 2012, saying, "We want victory."

Santorum supports U.S. political intervention and economic sanctions against state sponsors of terrorism. He views "Islamic fascism" in Iran as the center of the "world's conflict", and his geopolitical strategy for peace involves the United States promoting "a strong Lebanon, a strong Israel, and a strong Iraq." He sponsored the Syria Accountability Act of 2003 to require Syria to cease all activity with Lebanon and end all support for terrorism. In 2005, Santorum sponsored the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which appropriated $10 million aimed at regime change in Iran. The Act passed with overwhelming support. Santorum voted against the Lautenberg amendment, which would have closed the loophole that allows companies like Halliburton to do business with Iran through their foreign affiliates. Santorum reflected on his last year in the Senate as one spent talking a lot about Iran and was characterized by The Atlantic Wire as an "extreme hawk" in his approach to Iran. Santorum stated that Iran was the creator of Hezbollah and the driving force of Hamas. He said Iran was at the center of "much of the world's conflict" but he was opposed to direct military action against the country in 2006. Santorum was one of only two senators who voted against confirming Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. He said his objection was to Gates's support for talking with Iran and Syria, because it would be an error to talk with radical Islamists.

Party leadership and other actions

Santorum became chairman of the Senate Republican Conference in 2000, the party's third-ranking leadership position in the Senate. In that role, he directed Senate Republicans' communications operations and was a frequent party spokesperson. He was the youngest member of the Senate leadership and the first Pennsylvanian to hold such a prominent position since Senator Hugh Scott was Republican leader in the 1970s. In addition, Santorum served on the Senate Agriculture Committee; the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Senate Special Committee on Aging; and the Senate Finance Committee, of which he was the chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. He also sat at the candy desk for ten years.

In January 2005, Santorum announced his intention to run for Senate Republican Whip, the second-highest post in the Republican caucus after the 2006 election, saying he expected the incumbent whip, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to run for Senate Republican leader to succeed Bill Frist of Tennessee, who was planning to retire. As a result of Santorum's loss in the 2006 election, this plan was never realized.

K Street Project

Beginning in 1995, Republicans leaders such as Tom DeLay and Grover Norquist initiated an order to place Republicans in lobbying firm jobs and exclude Democrats. In addition, the initiative pressured lobbying firms to contribute to Republican campaigns by withholding access to lawmakers from firms that did not comply. The initiative became politically toxic for Republicans when the Jack Abramoff scandal broke in late 2004. Although some sources indicate that Santorum played a key role in the K Street Project, he has denied any involvement. In November 2005, several months after the indictments of Abramoff and DeLay, Santorum told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "The K Street project is purely to make sure we have qualified applicants for positions that are in town. From my perspective, it's a good government thing." A few months later, however, Santorum emphatically denied any connection with either the K Street Project or Norquist, saying: "I had absolutely nothing to do—never met, never talked, never coordinated, never did anything—with Grover Norquist and the quote K Street Project." In January 2012, The Washington Post's' "Fact Checker" concluded that "we can't prove definitively whether or not Santorum collaborated on the K Street Project", saying that it "depend on how you define the initiative".

2006 reelection campaign

In 2006, Santorum sought reelection to a third Senate term. He ran unopposed in the Republican Party. His seat was considered among the most vulnerable for Republicans and was a prime target of the Democratic Party in the 2006 elections. George W. Bush had a 38% approval rating in Pennsylvania in 2006. Mary Isenhour, a Democratic strategist, reflected on Santorum's campaign and his connection to the unpopular president, "In 2006, we were doubly blessed—we could run against George W. Bush and Rick Santorum". Santorum chose to campaign alongside President Bush and called him a "terrific president", hurting his popularity. Also problematic was Santorum's 2004 endorsement of his Republican Senate colleague Arlen Specter over conservative congressman Pat Toomey in the primary for Pennsylvania's other Senate seat. Many socially and fiscally conservative Republicans considered the endorsement a betrayal of their cause.

Santorum's opponent was Democratic state treasurer Bob Casey, Jr., the son of popular former governor Robert Casey, Sr. Casey was well known for his opposition to abortion, negating one of Santorum's key issues. For most of the campaign, Santorum trailed Casey by 15 points or more in polls. Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli failed to gain ballot access in the race, further hurting Santorum's chances. Reportedly, several of Santorum's supporters had funded and petitioned for Romanelli to siphon away Democrats from Casey.

Santorum was mired in controversy and spent much of his time on the campaign defending his past statements and positions. He faced criticism from Casey and others for several statements in his book It Takes a Family, including his denunciation of 1960s "radical feminism", which he said had made it "socially affirming to work outside the home" at the expense of child care. In the book, Santorum also compared pro-choice Americans to "German Nazis." John Brabender, an adviser to Santorum's Senate and presidential races, reflected back on the book's controversies and said Santorum was warned that sections could bring political damage, and Santorum was not willing to change much of it simply to gain moderate supporters. In addition, a past article Santorum wrote to The Catholic Online in which he linked liberalism and moral relativism in American society, particularly within seminaries, to the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal resurfaced in 2005. He wrote, "It is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." His remarks were heavily criticized, especially in Massachusetts, and he was asked for an explanation. Santorum did not retract his statement and defended his premise that it was "no surprise that the center of the Catholic Church abuse took place in very liberal, or perhaps the nation's most liberal area, Boston." Casey also raised the question of Santorum's association with the K Street Project.

Santorum said he spent "maybe a month a year" at his Pennsylvania home, raising allegations of hypocrisy as he had denounced his former opponent Doug Walgren for living away from his House district. Critics also complained that Pennsylvania taxpayers were paying 80% of the tuition for five of Santorum's children to attend an online "cyber school"—a benefit available only to Pennsylvania residents—when all his children lived in Virginia. The Penn Hills School District, which covered the tuition costs for the cyber school through local taxes, unsuccessfully filed a complaint against Santorum for reimbursement in 2005, but won reimbursement from the state in September 2006 in the amount of $55,000. In response, Santorum asked county officials to remove the homestead tax exemption from his Penn Hills property, saying he was entitled to it but chose not to take it because of the political dispute. Since 2006, Santorum has been home-schooling his seven children. Santorum responded to the dispute saying that his children should not be implicated in the "politics of personal destruction". One of his children appeared in a 2006 reelection campaign ad, saying, "My dad's opponents have criticized him for moving us to Washington so we could be with him more."

Santorum ran a television ad suggesting that Casey's supporters had been under investigation for various crimes. The negative ad backfired, as The Scranton Times-Tribune found that all but a few of Casey's contributors donated when he was running for other offices, and none were investigated for anything. In fact, two of the persons cited in Santorum's campaign ad actually contributed to Santorum in 2006, and one died in 2004. Santorum's campaign countered that those donations were not kept and had been donated to educational institutions.

Toward the end of his campaign, Santorum shifted his theme to the threat of radical Islam. In October 2006 he gave a "Gathering Storm" speech, invoking British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's description of Europe prior to World War II. As evidence that Islamists were waging a more-than-300-year-old crusade against the Western world, Santorum pointed to September 11, 1683, the date of the Battle of Vienna. Casey responded, "No one believes terrorists are going to be more likely to attack us because I defeat Rick Santorum." Noting that he had been "even more hawkish" during this time period than President Bush, Santorum later said, "Maybe that wasn't the smartest political strategy, spending the last few months running purely on national security".

A heated debate between the candidates occurred on October 11, 2006. Bill Toland of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described both candidates' performances during the debate as "unstatesmanlike".

In the November 7, 2006, election, Santorum lost by over 700,000 votes, receiving 41% of the vote to Casey's 59%. This was the largest margin of defeat for a sitting senator in the 2006 cycle, and the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent senator since 1980.

Post-Senate career

Lawyer, political consultant and commentator

In January 2007, Santorum joined the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a D.C.-based conservative think tank, as director of its America's Enemies Program focusing on foreign threats to the United States, including Islamic fascism, Venezuela, North Korea and Russia. In February 2007, he signed a deal to become a contributor on the Fox News Channel, offering commentary on politics and public policy. In March 2007 he joined Eckert Seamans, where he primarily practiced law in the firm's Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., offices, providing business and strategic counseling services to the firm's clients. In 2007, he joined the Board of Directors of Universal Health Services, a hospital management company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. He also began writing an op-ed column, "The Elephant in the Room", for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Santorum earned $1.3 million in 2010 and the first half of 2011. The largest portion of his earnings—$332,000—came from his work as a consultant for industry interest groups, including Consol Energy and American Continental Group. Santorum also earned $395,414 in corporate director's fees and stock options from Universal Health Services and $217,385 in income from the Ethics and Public Policy Center. In 2010 he was paid $23,000 by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his work as a columnist.

In January 2017, Santorum became a CNN senior political commentator. In April 2021, he claimed at an April 23 Young America's Foundation event that "There isn't much Native American culture in American culture. We came here and created a blank slate. We birthed a Nation. From nothing. I mean there was nothing here." Santorum's comments, which were described as racist, led to calls for CNN to terminate his contract, which the network did days later.

Speculation about political plans

Before the 2006 election, Santorum was frequently mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. Such speculation faded when, during the 2006 campaign and in light of unimpressive poll numbers in his Senate race, he declared that, if reelected, he would serve a full term. After he lost, Santorum once again ruled out a presidential run.

On February 1, 2008, Santorum said he would vote for Mitt Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. Santorum criticized John McCain, questioning his anti-abortion voting record and conservative values. Santorum later said he endorsed Romney because he saw him as the "best chance to stop John McCain", whom he considered too moderate. In September 2008, Santorum expressed support for McCain as the nominee, citing McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate as a step in the right direction.

Santorum was mentioned as a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 2010. At one point, he was said to have "quietly but efficiently put his fingerprints on a wide array of conservative causes in the state." Santorum declined to seek the gubernatorial nomination and instead endorsed eventual winner Tom Corbett.

2012 presidential campaign

In the fall of 2009, Santorum gave a speech at the University of Dubuque on the economy, fueling speculation that he would run for president in 2012. Santorum later recalled, "It got a lot of buzz on the Internet, so I thought, 'Wow, maybe there's some interest'". He decided to campaign after multiple conversations with his wife, who was not enthusiastic at first.

On September 11, 2009, Santorum spoke to Catholic leaders in Orlando, Florida, saying that the 2012 presidential elections were going to be "a real opportunity for success." He then scheduled various appearances in Iowa with political nonprofit organizations.

On January 15, 2010, Santorum sent an email and letter to supporters of his political action committee, saying, "I'm convinced that conservatives need a candidate who will not only stand up for our views, but who can articulate a conservative vision for our country's future". He continued, "And right now, I just don't see anyone stepping up to the plate. I have no great burning desire to be president, but I have a burning desire to have a different president of the United States". He formed a presidential exploratory committee on April 13, 2011. Santorum also mentioned his grandfather's historical encounter with Italian fascism as an inspiration for his presidential campaign.

He formally announced his run for the Republican presidential nomination on ABC's Good Morning America on June 6, 2011, saying he was "in it to win." He initially lagged in the polls but gained as other conservative candidates slumped. By the weekend before the Iowa caucuses, polls showed him in the top three along with Romney and Ron Paul. The Des Moines Register also noted that the momentum was with Santorum. In the closest finish in the history of the Iowa caucuses, the count on the night put Romney as winner by a margin of eight votes, but the final result announced two weeks later showed that Santorum had won by 34 votes. Santorum later focused on the states holding votes on February 7, a strategy that paid off, as he won all three. Santorum surged in polls taken shortly after, ranking first in some and a close second in others. In the March 13 primaries, Santorum narrowly won both Mississippi and Alabama and followed up with a victory in Louisiana on March 24.

Following the hospitalization of his daughter Bella and losses in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign on April 10, 2012, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He had won 11 state primaries and nearly 4 million votes, more than any other candidate except Romney. Santorum topped Romney in polls for a brief period. Upon the conclusion of Santorum's run, Romney called him "an important voice" in the GOP.

Santorum received a prime time speaking slot at the 2012 Republican National Convention. He was originally slated to speak early in the evening, but convention organizers moved him to 9 pm with the other highly anticipated speakers of the evening, Ann Romney and convention keynote Chris Christie. Santorum spoke of the American dream his immigrant grandfather worked to give his family and said Obama was turning the dream into a nightmare. He talked about his experiences on the presidential campaign trail, speaking with emotion about his daughter Bella and meeting disabled people and their families. He emphasized the importance of strengthening marriage and the family. He also condemned Obama's actions on the welfare reform law, of which he was one of the chief proponents in Congress, and his actions on education, including school choice and student loans. Santorum concluded his speech to a standing ovation, saying,

I thank God that America still has one party that reaches out their hands in love to lift up all of God's children—born and unborn—and says that each of us has dignity and all of us have the right to live the American Dream. And without you, America is not keeping faith with that dream. We are stewards of a great inheritance. In November we have a chance to vote for life and liberty, not dependency. A vote for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will put our country back in the hands of leaders who understand what America can and, for the sake of our children, must be to keep the dream alive.

Patriot Voices

In June 2012, Santorum launched Patriot Voices, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit with a mission to "mobilize conservatives around this country who are committed to promoting faith, family, freedom and opportunity" in support of causes and candidates across the country. Santorum supported U.S. Senate candidates Ted Cruz in Texas and Richard Mourdock in Indiana in their respective Republican primaries; both won. In the general elections, Patriot Voices endorsed eight U.S. Senate candidates and four House candidates. In Iowa's 2012 retention elections Santorum lent support to the "NO Wiggins" effort to oust Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, who they say promulgated a personal political agenda in the court. They have also been vocal in opposition to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which they say threatens parental rights and U.S. sovereignty. In August 2021 Santorum became a Senior Advisor to the Convention of States Project of Citizens for Self-Governance. "As Senior Advisor, Rick is counseling us on strategy, will serve as a public voice for the surging Convention of States movement, and will focus his incredible energy on restoring our nation and returning the proper balance to our republic," said Mark Meckler, head of the Convention of States Project.

Business ventures

In June 2013, Santorum became Chairman and CEO of EchoLight Studios, a Dallas-based Christian movie company. Santorum has produced the Christmas-themed movie The Christmas Candle and the religious liberty film One Generation Away.

He is a part owner of Plasma Technologies LLC.

2016 presidential campaign

Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press on August 4, 2013, Santorum said, "I'm open to looking into a presidential race in 2016." He outlined plans for a potential 2016 run in an interview with The Washington Post, and officially announced his candidacy on May 27, 2015. After performing poorly in the Iowa caucuses, Santorum ended his campaign on February 3, 2016, and endorsed Florida senator Marco Rubio. After Rubio suspended his campaign, Santorum endorsed Donald Trump.

CNN racism accusation

In May 2021, Santorum stated that America was founded by white Europeans and that prior to their arrival, America was populated by nothing more than a handful of primitive warring Native American tribes. He was dropped from CNN over these remarks, with some responses referring to them as "classic white supremacist rhetoric" and being "dangerous manipulation". In response, Santorum said he had “misspoke” and denied that he was “trying to dismiss Native Americans”.

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