Lee Bright (born March 21, 1970) is an American politician who served as the South Carolina State Senator from the 12th district from 2009 to 2017.

Bright contested the District 12 South Carolina Senate seat held by first-term incumbent John D. Hawkins in 2004, losing in a tight race by less than 50 votes.

Hawkins chose not to seek reelection, leaving Bright to contest State Representative Scott Talley for the Republican nomination, which he ultimately won, along with the general election.

Bright announced on August 13, 2013, that he would seek his party's nomination for United States Senate against incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham.

Bright, South Carolina House of Representatives member Roger Nutt, businessman Skip Davenport, and former Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Hope Blackley faced each other in the Republican primary.

[14] [15][16][17] Bright was bested by Representative Nutt in the Republican primary runoff,[18] the latter will face physician and presumptive Democratic nominee Octavia Amaechi in the general election.

In April 2013, Bright introduced a bill attempting to "require doctors performing abortions to have board certification in obstetrics and gynecology.

"[22] Along with Democrat Vincent Sheheen, Bright helped to write an ethics reform package that would require state legislators to wait eight years after leaving office before they could lobby their peers.

Bright described himself as troubled by the 2009 revelation that Sanford had flown to Argentina to meet with his mistress, but stopped short of joining calls for the governor's resignation.

"[29] Bright has also been an outspoken critic of government spending, and was designated as one of four "taxpayer heroes in the Senate" by the South Carolina chapter of the Club for Growth for the legislative session of 2011–2012.

[30] The Club for Growth is a PAC that describes themselves as "fiscally conservative" and has been opposed by Republicans Haley Barbour and Karl Rove.

He had the highest rating of the Palmetto Liberty PAC on its legislative scorecard, and was unanimously endorsed by The Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina [32] In 2012, after Governor Nikki Haley vetoed funding for a private organizations, teacher pay raises, and funding for the South Carolina Arts Commission, Bright voted to sustain the veto.

[40] Because the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the ACA, legal experts said the act would be unenforceable even if passed, due to the Supremacy Clause.

[40] In 2016 Lee Bright introduced a bill in the South Carolina Senate that would have prevented any municipality in the state from passing or maintaining transgender equality ordinances.

The bill would further hold non-profit resettlement agencies in the state financially liable for any crimes committed by a refugee that they assisted.

[42][43] Members of the Senate, I heard our President sing a religious hymn and then Friday night I watched the White House be lit up in the abomination colors.

On June 23, 2015, Bright was one of three Senate members including Tom Corbin (R-Greenville) and Danny Verdin (R-Laurens) who voted against removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds in the wake of the Charleston church shooting.

[48] Early in the morning of July 9, the bill passed the South Carolina House of Representatives and was signed into law that afternoon by Governor Haley.

In 2013, he was re-nominated to a second four-year term on the board of trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission.