Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a severe critic of government spending including the farm bill, announced today that he would resign from the Senate to become head of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

DeMint will resign before the new Congress convenes in early January.

Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Gov. Nikki Haley will appoint a successor, who will run in a special election in 2014, the same year that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is up for re-election