A source close to South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott says the senator expects to announce his presidential exploratory committee on Wednesday. Scott, who is the lone Black Republican in the Senate, has been hedging his bets for a while now.
Iowa has been a frequent stop on his “Faith in America” listening tour, which he began in February. Events for him are scheduled for this Wednesday in the early voting state. The Post and Courier broke the news of the preparations first.
Scott sent in an email to his supporters on Tuesday night, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past months,” in anticipation of an announcement on Fox News Wednesday morning. “I’ve been contemplating my religious beliefs. Concerned about our nation’s future, here. The Left’s goal to destroy America has been on my mind.”
Scott was handily reelected to the Senate in the autumn and finished the year with over $21 million in his campaign account, more than enough for a run for president. Republican primary voters have been paying attention to both outspoken candidates like former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to formally enter the race.
Trump’s frequent opponent and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson declared earlier this month that he is seeking the Republican nomination for president. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, like Scott, declared her candidacy in February.
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Scott’s decision not to back Haley, who filled a vacancy in the Senate by appointing him in 2012, is interpreted as a signal that he may run for president in 2020. Both of these South Carolinians were present at the donor retreat held by the anti-tax group Club for Growth in Palm Beach earlier this year.
Scott criticized President Joe Biden’s economic policy and the “disrespect” of law enforcement during a Christian conservative event in his home state last month He stated, “restore faith in America, we must be the party of security,” advocating for increased financing for law enforcement and a “close the US southern border, period.”
Scott spent many frustrating months in Congress trying to negotiate a police reform agreement with New Jersey Democrat Sen. Cory Booker and former California Rep. Karen Bass. In the wake of the savage police beating and subsequent death of Tyre Nichols earlier this year, he urged his Senate colleagues to pass “simple legislation” to overhaul the police force.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the most prominent Black leader in the Republican Party, will start an exploratory committee for a 2024 presidential run on Wednesday, according to three people with knowledge of his plans. https://t.co/75A4vWJQ6B
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 12, 2023
The former president’s vacillation in the wake of the 2017 bloodshed in Charlottesville, Virginia, precipitated by racist protesters, prompted him to periodically speak out against Trump.
I refuse to make an excuse for the unacceptable. After saying that Trump’s “moral authority” had been “compromised,” Scott told Vice News, “I’m not here to do that.” Scott offered the Republican rebuttal to Vice President Biden’s 2021 speech to a joint session of Congress, giving him a major national platform from which to speak out against Biden’s message.
Scott has previously served in the House of Representatives for one term. In addition to his time on the Charleston City Council, he spent time in the South Carolina state legislature.
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