Representative Kenneth Lamar Holland

Kenneth Lamar Holland (November 24, 1934 – February 27, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina between 1975 and 1983. Over four consecutive terms in Congress, he represented South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District and contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents.

Holland was born in Hickory, North Carolina, on November 24, 1934. He moved to South Carolina as a youth and attended public schools in Gaffney, South Carolina. From 1952 to 1959, he served in the National Guard, an early period of public service that preceded his legal and political career. His upbringing in the Carolinas and his early military service helped ground his later work on behalf of South Carolina communities.

Holland entered the University of South Carolina, where he earned an A.B. degree in 1960 and an LL.B. degree in 1963. While at the university, he was a member of the Euphradian Society, one of the institution’s historic literary and debating societies, reflecting an early engagement with public affairs and rhetoric. He was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1963 and began the practice of law in Camden, South Carolina, establishing himself as an attorney before entering electoral politics.

Holland became active in Democratic Party politics in the late 1960s. He served as a delegate to the South Carolina State Democratic conventions from 1968 to 1972 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1968, participating in party deliberations during a turbulent era in national politics. From 1971 to 1973, he served as a member of the State Board of Municipal Canvassers, acting as the board’s chairman and overseeing aspects of the state’s electoral processes. He then served on the South Carolina Highway Commission from 1972 to 1975, gaining experience in transportation policy and state infrastructure issues.

In 1974, Holland was elected as the Democratic candidate from South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District to the Ninety-fourth Congress and was subsequently reelected to the three following Congresses, serving from January 3, 1975, to January 3, 1983. His tenure in the House of Representatives coincided with the post-Watergate era, the end of the Vietnam War, and shifting economic conditions, and he took part in the legislative work of the chamber during this consequential period. In the 1976 election, he won reelection by a narrow margin, receiving 51 percent of the vote to 48 percent for the Republican candidate, South Carolina Gamecocks baseball coach and former Major League Baseball player Bobby Richardson. A member of the Democratic Party throughout his congressional career, Holland completed four terms in office before choosing not to seek reelection in 1982 to the Ninety-eighth Congress. He was succeeded in Congress by John M. Spratt Jr.

After leaving Congress in January 1983, Holland returned to the practice of law, resuming his legal career in South Carolina. He remained engaged in public affairs and Democratic Party politics. On February 7, 2006, he announced that he planned to enter the Democratic primary for the 2006 race for Governor of South Carolina. Within a month, however, he withdrew from the race, citing financial difficulties in mounting a statewide campaign and pledging to refund the contributions he had received up to that point.

Kenneth Lamar Holland died on February 27, 2021, in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 86. His career spanned military service in the National Guard, legal practice, state-level political and administrative roles, and four terms in the United States House of Representatives representing South Carolina.