File:Rick Santorum at Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Oklahoma City, OK May 2015 by Michael Vadon 05a.jpg

English: Richard John "Rick" Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is an American attorney and Republican Party politician. He served as a United States Senator representing Pennsylvania (1995–2007) and was the Senate's third-ranking Republican (2001–07). He ran as a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination,finishing second to the eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Born in Virginia, Santorum was raised primarily in Butler, Pennsylvania. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law (now part of Penn State). Santorum worked as an attorney at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, where he met Karen Garver. They married in 1990, and have seven living children (one child died shortly after birth). Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in 1990 and later became a member of a group dubbed the "Gang of Seven".

Santorum was elected as a United States Senator for Pennsylvania in 1994. He served two terms until losing his re-election bid in 2006. A devout, practicing Catholic, Santorum is a social conservative who opposes same-sex marriage and artificial birth control. While serving as a senator, Santorum was the author of what came to be known as the Santorum Amendment, which promoted the teaching of intelligent design. In 2005, Santorum introduced the Workplace Religious Freedom Act along with Senator John Kerry.

In the years following his departure from the Senate, Santorum worked as a consultant, private-practice lawyer, and news contributor. On June 6, 2011 Santorum announced his run for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Upon announcing his campaign suspension on April 10, 2012, he had won 11 primaries and caucuses and received nearly 4 million votes, making him the runner-up to eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Santorum officially endorsed Romney on May 7, 2012. Santorum is set to run for president for a second time in the 2016 presidential election, though he has not yet officially launched a campaign or an exploratory committee.

Welcome to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference

May 21-23 promises to be a rendezvous with destiny in Oklahoma City. The unofficial start of the 2016 Republican Presidential campaign begins here, in the new energy capital of America!

The 2016 election will be one of the most important in our lifetime. The choices we make in the next two years will define America for the next 50 years.

On behalf of the Oklahoma Republican Party and the entire SRLC Committee, please join us as we begin our shared Republican journey towards capturing the White House and renewing our nation.

It is our distinct privilege to invite you to attend the 2015 Southern Republican Leadership Conference, to be held at the Cox Convention Center and Downtown Oklahoma City Renaissance Convention Center Hotel on May 21-23, 2015. We hope you will join us!

The SRLC has a star-studded history as one of the premier conferences for all Republicans and conservative activists. This year we anticipate 50 speakers, break-out sessions with energy, utility and manufacturing opinion leaders, and 75 partnering organizations. In addition, we are hosting the largest regional presidential straw poll of the year.

We look forward to your participation in this historic conference as we energize the Grand Old Party and America together!

SRLC 2015 Committee