Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has announced that he is launching an exploratory committee to run for president in the 2024 elections.[0] Scott, a Republican, made the announcement in a video, saying he would “never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional.”[1] He added that he knows America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression, because he lived it.[2] Scott, who is the Senate’s only Black Republican, accused Joe Biden and the radical left of promoting victimhood over personal responsibility and indoctrinating children to believe the country is evil. He warned that the country is being tested and that the threat to its future is real.[2]
After serving on the Charleston County Council for over a decade, Scott was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, marking the start of his political career. He spent two years at the state level before winning a seat at the U.S. House representing South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in 2010. In 2013, he was appointed to replace Sen. Jim DeMint after completing a solo term.[3] Scott has been reelected twice, most recently in 2022, which he claimed to be his last Senate run.[4]
If Scott officially enters the fray, he will join other contenders for the Republican nomination, including former President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and fellow South Carolinian, former Governor Nikki Haley. However, Scott would face an uphill climb in the primary, with most national and early state polls showing him in the single digits.[5] In a Winthrop University poll of registered South Carolina Republican voters released on Wednesday, Scott polled at 7 percent, trailing Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Haley.[3]
Scott’s racial identity and up-from-poverty biography are unavoidably central to his ability to distinguish himself from all of the other MAGA-tinged loud-and-proud conservatives already in or considering the race.[6] He has made his personal story proof positive that the U.S. is now free of conservative white racism while accusing Joe Biden and “the radical left” of seeking to subjugate Black people via bad “government schools,” high crime, inflation, and so on.[6]
Scott’s slogan, “Faith in America,” is a direct appeal to the evangelical voters whom Trump originally brought Pence onto the ticket to sell.[2] His identity may give him the most unique opportunity to appeal to Republicans.[7] “They’ll say they don’t care a lot about that, because we don’t believe in identity politics as Republicans,” strategists say.[7] They are aware of the changing landscape of the country and acknowledge the appeal of a candidate with differing qualities.[7]
In 2021, Scott was given a prime national platform to address the country and challenge Biden’s message as he delivered the GOP response to Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress. Republicans tapped Scott to deliver the GOP response to President Biden’s first address to Congress. If he decides to formally enter the 2024 presidential race, Scott would join fellow South Carolinian and former governor Nikki Haley and former president Donald Trump as a contender for the Republican nomination. It is anticipated that Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida will join the Republican Party’s competition.[8]
0. “Tim Scott to launch presidential exploratory committee, sources say” CBS News, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-scott-to-launch-presidential-exploratory-committee-sources/
1. “Sen. Tim Scott forms exploratory committee as he weighs White House run” WYFF4 Greenville, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.wyff4.com/article/sen-tim-scott-forms-exploratory-committee-weighs-white-house-run/43582101
2. “Tim Scott Looks at Joe Biden and Thinks Civil War” The Bulwark, 13 Apr. 2023, https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/tim-scott-announcement-joe-biden-civil-war
3. “Sen. Tim Scott launches a presidential exploratory committee” NPR, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/04/12/1166802875/tim-scott-presidential-exploratory-committee
4. “Sen. Tim Scott plans to launch 2024 exploratory committee Wednesday” CNN International, 12 Apr. 2023, https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/11/politics/tim-scott-exploratory-committee-2024/index.html
5. “Tim Scott’s looming Trump challenge fuels GOP skepticism” The Hill, 12 Apr. 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3946849-tim-scott-trump-challenge-gop-2024/
6. “Tim Scott Equates the ‘Radical Left’ With the Confederacy” New York Magazine, 12 Apr. 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/tim-scott-equates-the-radical-left-with-the-confederacy.html
7. “How Tim Scott Plans to Stand Out in a GOP That ‘Craves Catastrophe'” TIME, 12 Apr. 2023, https://time.com/6271347/tim-scott-2024-campaign-identity
8. “SC’s Tim Scott formally announces first steps toward seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination” WLTX.com, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.wltx.com/article/news/politics/tim-scott-republican-presidential-exploratory-committee-2024/101-e3085130-4020-402c-aff2-a01c7bc88eab
