In an unexpected turn of events, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a longtime immigration hawk, announced Thursday that he was resigning from his Senate post to take over as president of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
"It's been an honor to serve the people of South Carolina in United States Senate for the past eight years, but now it's time for me to pass the torch to someone else and take on a new role in the fight for America's future," DeMint said in a statement on his web page.
DeMint, 61, has represented South Carolina from his Senate seat since 2005.
A leading member of the controversial Tea Party movement of the Republican Party, DeMint will be taking the helm at the Heritage Foundation, a D.C.-based conservative "think tank" whose mission statement is to "to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
DeMint said Thursday that he decided to join the foundation in order to provide "strong leadership in the battle of ideas," and that the foundation had the resources available to lead that fight.
"My constituents know that being a Senator was never going to be my career," DeMint said. "I came to Congress as a citizen legislator and I've always been determined to leave it as citizen legislator. South Carolina has a deep bench of conservative leaders and I know Governor Haley will select a great replacement."
DeMint's new position gives the Tea Party, whose conservative hardliner stance against issues such as immigration, a key strategic point of power. This comes at a time when Republicans are trying to move more towards the center on immigration following an overwhelming defeat among Latino voters at the Nov. 6 election polls.
During his time in the Senate, DeMint became well known for opposing then-President George W. Bush's plans to create pathways to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
In a column Erick Erickson wrote Thursday on Red State, a conservative website, he called DeMint "a conservative kingmaker" that helped elect several prominent Republicans including Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Kentucky Rand Paul, Wisconsin Sen. Rob Johnson, Texas's new Senator-elect Ted Cruz and Arizona Senator-elect Jeff Flake.
Brent Bozell, president of For America, a nonprofit that advocates for Christian values, told Newsday that Heritage picking DeMint as its leader was "a master stroke. It's just the kind of move that will rejuvenate conservatism."
However, not all Republicans were as enthusiastic.
John Ullyot, a former Senate Republican aide who worked for moderate GOP senators John Warner of Virginia and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, told the Huffington Post that DeMint's pick to lead the foundation could signal "an even farther turn to the right by Heritage."
"That is not necessarily where many Republicans think the party should be going," Ullyot said.