TIM SCOTT LAUNCHES 2024 PRESIDENTIAL BID
Republican senator from S.C. focuses on optimistic message
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., launched his presidential campaign on Monday, offering an optimistic and compassionate message he’s hoping can serve as a contrast with the political combativeness that has dominated the early GOP primary field.
Scott kicked off the campaign in his hometown of North Charleston, on the campus of Charleston Southern University, his alma mater and a school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. He mentioned his Christian faith in his kickoff speech, crying, “Amen! Amen! Amen!” and at several points elicited responses from the crowd, who sometimes chanted his name.
But Scott offered a stark choice, saying “our party and our nation are standing at a time for choosing: Victimhood or victory.” He added that Republicans will also have to decide between “grievance or greatness.”
“I choose freedom and hope and opportunity,” Scott said. He went on to tell the crowd that “we need a president who persuades not just our friends and our
base” but seeks “commonsense” solutions and displays “compassion for people who don’t agree with us.”
Scott, 57, planned to huddle with home-state donors today, then begin a two-day campaign swing to Iowa and New Hampshire, which go first on the GOP presidential voting calendar.
His announcement event featured an opening prayer by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who said, “I think our country is ready to be inspired again.” Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota’s other senator, has already announced his support for Scott.
A number of high-profile GOP senators have backed former President Donald Trump’s third bid for the White House, including Scott’s South Carolina colleague, Lindsey Graham. Trump struck a conciliatory
tone Monday, welcoming Scott to the race and noting that the pair worked together on his administration’s signature tax cuts.
A source of strength for Scott will be his campaign bank account. He enters the 2024 race with more cash on hand than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history, with $22 million left in his campaign account at the end of his 2022 campaign that he can transfer to his presidential campaign.
Scott easily won re-election in firmly Republican South Carolina, which has an early slot on the Republican primary calendar.
But Scott is not the only South Carolina option. The state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, who once served as Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, is also running.
Like others in the race, including former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and author Vivek Ramaswamy, Scott’s initial task will be finding a way to stand out in a field led by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to enter the race this week.
One way Scott hopes to do that is his political optimism. Scott often quotes Scripture at his campaign events, weaving his reliance on spiritual guidance into his speeches, calling his travels before the campaign’s official launch the “Faith in America” listening tour.
Scott aligns with mainstream GOP positions on many issues. He wants to reduce government spending and restrict abortion, saying he would sign a federal law to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy if elected president.
But Scott has pushed the party on some policing overhaul measures since the killing of George Floyd, and he has occasionally criticized Trump’s response to racial tensions.
When he was appointed to the Senate by then-governor Haley in 2012, Scott became the first Black senator from the South since just after the Civil War. Winning a 2014 special election to serve out the remainder of his term made him the first Black candidate to win a statewide race in South Carolina since Reconstruction.