Tim Scott: Republican senator running for president

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By Sam Cabral, BBC News, Washington, May 22, 2023, at 16:30 GMT

Updated 7 minutes ago

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Watch: The moment Republican Tim Scott announced his candidacy for the presidency

Senator Tim Scott has become the latest Republican to join the packed 2024 race for the presidency of the United States.

Scott, 57, who has represented South Carolina in the chamber since 2013, promised to revive America’s “culture of greatness.”

With around $22m (£18m) on hand, he enters the fray with more campaign money than any of his rivals.

Former President Donald Trump is currently the Republican front-runner for the party’s nomination.

At a launch event in his hometown of North Charleston on Monday, Scott, who is black, touted his personal story — the grandson of a Deep South cotton field worker who rose to the US Senate — as the embodiment of the American dream.

He talked about being raised by a single mother and how his family went from cotton to Congress in his grandfather’s life.

Scott has previously spoken often about his experiences as a black man in America, from being stopped by police seven times in one year to being stopped inside the US Capitol.

Image source, Getty Images

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Growing up in a single-parent home, Scott called his mom on stage

But in his campaign launch speech, he rejected the notion that a nation is defined by a racial divide.

“I am living proof that America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression,” he said, criticizing the political left. “The truth of my life refutes their lies.”

He vowed to transform “a nation in decline”.

“Joe Biden and the far left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” he said. “We’re not in retreat. We’re in retreat for Biden. So all we have to do is go back.”

Scott is one of three black US senators in the 100-member upper house of Congress, along with Democrats Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock.

The mild-mannered lawmaker, a staggering bachelor, has received endorsements from two of his fellow senators, including John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the chamber.

“There may be someone in the United States who doesn’t like Tim Scott, but I’ve never met them,” said longtime Republican consultant Whit Ayres. “He has the potential to be a very strong candidate.”

He added, “For the Republican Party to be competitive in a rapidly changing America, it needs to offer voters a different face, and Tim Scott obviously represents a different face.”

Later this week, Mr. Scott will travel to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote in the Republican primary.

Having already filed papers to run for president with the Federal Election Commission, he also earned $6 million in airtime in both states. It’s the largest single ad purchase in the 2024 race so far.

He has the backing of some of the right’s richest donors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and is expected to contest the Evangelical Christian vote, a key Republican bloc.

The former insurance salesman joins a field that also includes former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, technology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder.

Others such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are also expected to run.

National polls put Mr. Trump ahead of the competition, with Scott garnering less than 5% support.

“Senator Scott is going to have a huge impact on this race because he has the dollars behind him,” South Carolina-based Republican strategist Dave Wilson told the BBC.

“When you look at the fact that he has more money than the other candidates out there, it’s going to be easier for him to put the optimistic message he’s carrying out there.”

The South Carolina-born citizen’s campaign is expected to focus on a more positive, less populist form of conservatism.

Scott told Fox News last year that he “doesn’t have many” political differences with Mr. Trump. He was a major supporter in the Senate of the then-president’s 2017 tax cuts.

If he does not win the nomination, the senator is nominated as a possible running mate for the party’s eventual nominee for 2024.

“Tim good luck!” His friendly message stands in stark contrast to the attacks he usually launches on rivals, Trump wrote on social media.

DeSantis, who is second on the poll but has lost to Trump in recent weeks, is expected to officially join the race later this week.

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