Early Life and Education
DeMint was born in Greenville, South Carolina, one of four children. His parents, Betty W. (née Rawlings) and Thomas Eugene DeMint, divorced when he was five years old. Following the divorce, Betty DeMint operated a dance studio out of the family's home.
DeMint was educated at Christ Church Episcopal School and Wade Hampton High School in Greenville. DeMint played drums for a cover band called Salt & Pepper. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee, where he was a part of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, and received a MBA from Clemson University.
DeMint's wife, the former Debbie Henderson, is one of three children of Greenville advertising entrepreneur James Marvin Henderson, Sr. (1921-1995). Henderson was the 1970 Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, having run on the unsuccessful ticket headed by gubernatorial standard-bearer, then U.S. Representative Albert W. Watson. Henderson was later the assistant to Postmaster General Winton M. Blount in the administration of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. He also headed the Nixon reelection committee in South Carolina in 1972.
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