Isadore Edward Lourie served in the South Carolina General Assembly from 1965 until his retirement in 1993 and gained a reputation as the champion of the common man and woman. Lourie was first elected to the South Carolina House with the slogan, "The Man Who Will Stand Up For You." In 1972, he won election to the state Senate. In 1995, Governor David Beasley appointed Lourie to the twenty-two-member South Carolina Commission on Racial Relations.