RNC Delegate Profile: Meet Lin Bennett

Lin Bennett just didn't realize she was a Republican. 

About 20 years ago, the now-Summerville resident received a letter from her Maryland congressman. A Democrat that she had voted for.

The letter asked if she supported Social Security. "But that's not the real issue, is it?" she remembered asking. Of course she supports Social Security — but that didn't mean it doesn't need fixing. 

“The letter just kind of set me over the edge, to tell you the truth," Bennett said.

And just like that, Bennett, who had always voted but always voted Democrat, became interested in politics. But she didn't like what she was uncovering.

“I went to a local Democrat meeting and, after the first time, I was just appalled at what I was hearing," Bennett said. "It was the usual talking points stuff. One of the  things that happened, they throw out their standard lines, and I learned pretty fast you don't question them."

There's nothing wrong with talking points, she added. She just wanted more discussion — more "Why?" and less "Because I said so."

"At that point I thought, 'Gee I must really be a Republican.'"

And that was a slight issue. There was a reason Bennett was a lifelong Democrat: her father.

"When my father found out I was a registered Republican, he was really upset with me. He said 'I can't understand what's happened to you and it must be those people in Washington D.C.,'" Bennett said.

"Why did you do this?" he asked her.

"It was because of the way you raised me, to be responsible," Bennett fired back.

"Then I suggested to him that he check out his Democratic Party … I knew he didn't support a lot of their agenda," Bennett said.

Now, she's converted her father, mother and two sisters. 

With the resurgance of Libertarian ideas in the Republican party, she's even more excited now.

“Since 2010, it’s a good move in a lot of ways. I probably lean more Liberatarian than conservative. Though there are things in the Libertarian platform I don't support, but that's the same with the Republican party … (Libertarians) want you to be 100 percent and I just can’t be 100 percent,” Bennett said. 

But what she likes most is the extra interest in discussion and education.

Sitting at a Starbucks in North Charleston, hours away from leaving via car to Tampa to join the thousands of Republicans set to convene, nine of which hail from the Lowcountry, Bennett is already wearing a casual, button-down T-shirt sporting tropical flowers. This is going to be a vacation with serious implications for the nation.

Bennett has been to the Republican National Convention before, but in 2004, and that was in Minneapolis. Not quite the destination that Florida, she smiled. 

In addition to her festive attire, Bennett wears palmetto-and-moon earrings and a palmetto-and-moon necklace. After all, she's the first vice chair for the SCGOP and the Charleston County GOP chair. 

"I'm all South Carolina," she laughed.

Like her embrace of Republican values, Bennett was quick to embrace South Carolina when she moved here for a job 10 years ago. 

The state lost its kingmaker status during the 2012 presidential primary, when its voters rallied behind former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Bennett voted for former Pennsylvania legislator Rick Santorum. 

Now, Bennett and other S.C. delegates will rally behind the man who won only 28 percent of the vote and finished second behind Gingrich: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Bennett said the party has jobs and the economy on its side — a boon to its platform that the Democrats just don't have. But she also wants the party to give more emphasis to reducing government. 

During the convention, Bennett has three speakers she's excited to hear from: Romney's Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. Paul Ryan; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.