Brad Hutto is from the Providence Community near Holly Hill in eastern Orangeburg County, where he grew up on his family’s dairy farm. He is married to Dr. Tracy Macpherson, a pediatrician at The Pediatric Clinic in Orangeburg. They have one son, Skyler, who is also a lawyer at Williams & Williams.
In 1978, Brad Hutto graduated magna cum laude from the Honors Program at the University of South Carolina with a B.A. degree. At age 23, he graduated with a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC in 1981. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina Honors College.
Brad Hutto practices in the following areas: civil litigation, criminal defense, DUI defense, automobile accidents, traffic violations, general litigation, and consumer class actions.
He received recognition as the 1992 South Carolina Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the South Carolina Bar Association. He is a member the South Carolina Association for Justice and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is one of the founders of and member of the South Carolina Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. For the last decade, he has been recognized in The Best Lawyers of America for his work in the practice area of DUI defense.
Brad Hutto was elected to the Senate of South Carolina for District 40 on April 30, 1996 to fill the unexpired term of his late law partner, Senator Marshall B. Williams. He was sworn in on May 7, 1996, representing Orangeburg and Barnwell counties in the Senate. Brad Hutto was re-elected to the South Carolina Senate in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. He represents Senate District 40 which includes Bamberg County, Barnwell County, and portions of Allendale, Colleton, Hampton and Orangeburg counties. He currently serves as the Minority Leader of the South Carolina State Senate.
For his work in the General Assembly of South Carolina, Brad Hutto has received numerous awards and recognitions. He was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the Municipal Association of South Carolina (2002). He is the two-time recipient of the Legislator of the Year Award from the South Carolina Association of Counties (2002 and 2011). He has also received Legislator of the Year recognition from the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association (2011), the South Carolina Solicitors’ Association, the South Carolina Public Health Association (2004), the SC Human Services Providers Association (2014), and SC Council of Governments (2019).
For his advocacy for farmers, he has received recognition from the South Carolina Farm Bureau and the Palmetto Agribusiness Council. He is the recipient of Legislative Advocacy Award from the Greenville Hospital System Children’s Hospital Development Council (2012), the Barbara W. Moxon Advocacy Award from Planned Parenthood (2011), and Children’s Trust of South Carolina (2017). He was named a Champion of Choice by Planned Parenthood in 2019. He received the Golden Palmetto Award from the South Carolina Cable Television Association in 2008.
Other legislative honors have come from the South Carolina Rural Health Association (2000), South Carolina School Nurses (2002), Claflin University (2000), the South Carolina Medical Association (2009), the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative (2010), the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (2011), the SC Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2012), and South Carolina Coalition of Healthy Families (2014). For his work in conservation, he has been recognized by the Friends of the Edisto (2012), the South Carolina Sierra Club (2015) and with the Green Tie Award from the Conservation Voters of South Carolina (2015). He was named MADD Legislator of the Year in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Brad Hutto has been active with the Boy Scouts of America for over five decades. He is an Eagle Scout, a Vigil Honor Member of the Order of the Arrow, a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award, the Order of the Arrow Founder’s Award, and the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award. He has also been recognized with the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. At the National Annual Meeting in Denver in 2019, he received the Silver Antelope Award. He served on Boy Scout Camp staff at Camp Barstow and Camp Coker, was Lodge Chief for Muscogee Lodge, has attended 4 national jamborees and has been to Philmont three times. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Indian Waters Council, BSA and was its president from 2009-2011. During the 100th year anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in 2010, he was named to the BSA Centennial Leadership Hall of Fame by the council.
Brad and his wife Tracy enjoy the outdoors. They have backpacked thousands of miles on the Appalachian Trail, the Foothills Trail, the Palmetto Trail, the Inca Trail in Peru, the Kalalau Trail in Hawaii, and at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.
