Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a rising star in the GOP, is jumping into the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to seek the office of presidency, campaign filings show.
The GOP senator launched a $6 million ad campaign in key presidential primary states on Friday, ahead of a scheduled campaign announcement May 22.
Scott joins former President Donald Trump in the race for their party’s nomination. Trump launched his third White House bid in mid-November.
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Following Scott’s filing for a presidential run, the South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP) chair promised to hold him accountable for his record.
“Here in South Carolina, we know how dangerous Tea Party extremist Tim Scott is, and based on the last few weeks, the rest of America is finding out too,” SCDP chair Christale Spain said in a statement. “From promising to sign the most conservative abortion ban possible as president, to doubling down on his role as ‘architect’ of the 2017 GOP tax scam that pushed tax cuts for the ultra wealthy at the expense of working families, Scott has proven himself to be just as MAGA as the rest of the 2024 field.”
Scott also becomes the second politician from South Carolina — the state that holds the third contest in the Republican presidential nominating calendar — to launch a presidential campaign, following former two-term Gov. Nikki Haley. The former ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration declared her candidacy on Feb. 14.
Scott, known for his fundraising prowess, enters the White House race with his campaign coffers well stocked. Scott reported nearly $22 million cash on hand at the end of last year — funds left over from the senator’s convincing 25-point re-election victory in November in reliably red South Carolina.
A pair of Scott-aligned super PACs started 2023 with roughly $16 million in the bank, thanks to contributors from numerous Republican mega-donors including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Trump, who remains the front-runner most — though not all — early 2024 GOP presidential nomination polls, was in South Carolina in late January to announce his leadership team in the crucial early voting state and to showcase endorsements from Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The Republican field is likely to get more crowded in the weeks and months ahead. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to announce a presidential run in the coming weeks.
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Among the others making moves toward launching a campaign or seriously considering a Republican presidential run are former Vice President Mike Pence, former Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Govs. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia; former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has already announced a presidential run.
Political pundits had long viewed Scott as a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender. While the senator had repeatedly demurred when asked about a White House bid, he hinted in November at a possible future run during his re-election victory celebration by telling the story of how he took his grandfather to the polls in 2012, and that his grandfather proudly voted for him as well as for Democrat Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
“I wish he had lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected President of the United States,” Scott said, before adding “but this time let it be a Republican.”
Scott made three stops last year to Iowa – the state that kicks off the GOP presidential nominating calendar – to help fundraise and campaign for Republicans running in the 2022 midterm elections. He also made a couple of stops the past two years in New Hampshire, which for a century has held the first primary in the White House race and directly follows Iowa in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.
Scott was in Charleston, South Carolina the day after Haley formally announced her campaign, to deliver a speech on Black History Month as he began a listening tour, which was first reported by Fox News earlier this month. That tour took Scott to Iowa the following week to deliver an address on faith in America and to headline a fundraiser for Hawkeye State Republicans.
“I think the most important thing is the mission that we have. The mission we have is making sure that we restore hope and create opportunities for working class Americans. We’re going to have a Faith in America tour so that we can listen to the American people,” Scott said in a recent Fox News Channel interview when asked about running for president.
“I look forward to continuing to hear across the country what the priorities of the American people are,” the senator emphasized. “We need an optimistic, positive message that brings our country back together because we’re in the midst of a cultural strife that we haven’t seen in a number of years.”
Haley and Scott served together in the South Carolina legislature. Haley won the governorship in 2010, the same year as Scott election to Congress. And three years later Haley appointed Scott to fill an open Senate seat.
The two have moved for many years in many of the same political circles, and have shared many of the same advisers and donors and count plenty of the same people as allies – which will likely complicate matters now that the senator has joined the former governor in the 2024 nomination battle.
“The fact that you have the potential of two South Carolinians in the race completely changes things,” Palmetto State based social conservative leader Dave Wilson told Fox News.