Fittingly, the first shots in this year’s Republican Party civil war are coming from South Carolina. Former Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley officially declared her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination last week, the first person not named Donald Trump to announce. And the state’s junior senator, Tim Scott, is expected to announce his candidacy soon.
They’re both talented politicians ideally suited for delivering an optimistic view of the party and the conservative movement. And that’s exactly the problem: Right now, Republicans are in no mood for optimism.
The rise of Haley and Scott should be a welcome development for a party desperate to update itself for the 21st century. Both have lived versions of the American Dream — hopeful stories that the nation would do well to hear after years of pandemic and economic uncertainty. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants who rose to the highest levels of state and national government; Scott is the African-American son of a single mother who joined Congress more than a decade ago after defeating the son of famed segregationist Strom Thurmond.
