U.S. Sen. Tim Scott grew up poor, and his divorced mother worked 16-hour days to raise him and his older brother, Ben.
In his official 2024 presidential launch, South Carolina’s junior senator portrays his life not of struggle but one of opportunity: he nearly failed out of high school, started his own business and was elected to statewide political office.
But is that positive message enough to convince Republican Party voters to abandon the party’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump? Scott, 57, thinks so.
“We live in the land where it is possible for a kid raised in poverty by a single mother in a small apartment to one day serve in the people’s House, and maybe even the White House,” Scott said. “This is the greatest country on God’s green Earth.”
Scott formally launched his 2024 presidential bid Monday at his North Charleston alma mater, Charleston Southern University, becoming the second South Carolinian to run for president, behind former Gov. Nikki Haley.
To the friendly crowd of 1,000, Scott, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate and the second Black candidate to launch a bid after conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder, on Monday described the country under “retreat.”
“Under President Biden, our nation is retreating away from patriotism and faith,” Scott said. “The fewest people in 30 years believe kids today will have better lives than their parents. And the radical left is pushing us into a culture of grievance instead of a culture of greatness.”
Scott joins a growing race that so far includes high-profile hopefuls Trump, Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the race this week. Former Vice President Mike Pence also is considering a run.
Scott, who, like Haley, previously said he would not run for president should Trump seek reelection, will campaign in early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire this week as he works to expand his name ID. That’ll be helped, in large part, because of a recent whopping $5.5 million in television ad buy, scheduled to air in Iowa and New Hampshire through late August.
Ahead of Scott’s Monday launch, U.S. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican and the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. Senate, backed Scott’s bid, and Axios reported a political action committee supporting Scott added veteran Republican strategist Jesse Hunt as a senior communications adviser.
“(Scott’s) also a candidate who comes in this race with boundless hope and optimism,” Thune said. “I think our country is ready to be inspired.”
Glenn McCall, South Carolina’s Republican National committee member who is Black, also endorsed Scott’s presidential campaign, senior campaign officials said.
“This is the freest and fairest land, where you and I can go as high as our character, our grit and our talent will take us,” Scott said Monday. “I bear witness to that. I testify to that. That’s why I’m the candidate the far left fears the most.”
Tim Scott trails in 2024 polls. Will he see a bump?
Scott, however, will have considerable work to do to break through in a race that includes Trump, Haley, who tapped Scott to first serve in the Senate, and likely DeSantis.
Scott has trailed in most national and early primary polls, for example, showing him in fifth place with 4% in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll.
In South Carolina, No. 4 on the presidential nominating calendar in February, Scott has more support.
The latest Winthrop University Poll showed Scott with 7% of support among S.C. Republican voters, putting him in fourth behind Trump with 41%, DeSantis with 20% and Haley with 18%. The same poll showed Scott with a 47% job approval rating, including 69% among S.C. Republicans.
Though he has structural advantage as a South Carolina native, senior campaign officials told The State newspaper that work has to be done in Iowa and New Hampshire if Scott has any chance at winning the nomination.
Scott, who last won reelection in 2022 with 63% of the vote, enters the race with nearly $22 million in the bank — the highest of any presidential candidate in American history, senior campaign officials said.
“Tim Scott has a war chest that many other candidates in this race right now wish that they had,” said Dave Wilson, a longtime South Carolina Republican strategist.
Scott, who owned his own Allstate Insurance office in the 1990s, formerly served on Charleston County Council, then was elected to one term in the South Carolina House, 2009-2010, before he was elected to Congress as part of the conservative tea party wave. In 2013, Haley appointed Scott to the U.S. Senate to complete the term of former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.
In the State House, Scott was part of the so-called coastal caucus, which focused on infrastructure, the state’s coastal areas and beach renourishment, said state Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Beaufort. Herbkersman said he hasn’t decided who he’ll back.
“He was always the first one here, and last one to leave (the meetings). He always wanted to learn. He picked it up pretty fast,” Herbkersman said. “Tim is an honest guy, he speaks his mind. He’s a good face for South Carolina.”
Scott had several lawmakers present who were backing him, including state Reps. Sylleste Davis, R-Berkeley, Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, Shannon Erickson, R-Beafort, and Jeff Bradley, R-Beafort.
Scott lists his top accomplishment in the Senate such as the inclusion of opportunity zones in the Trump-era tax cut law, an initiative encouraging wealthier developers to invest in poor areas. Since then, Scott has so far unsuccessfully tried to pass police reform legislation, at one point coming close to a deal in 2021 with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey.
Senior campaign officials say Scott is the most consistently conservative candidate in the race, pointing to his “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association and the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America organization.
Since announcing his exploratory committee in April, Scott has struggled to clearly answer where he stands on abortion restrictions.
Scott first said that he would sign a 20-week ban, then backtracked, saying he’d sign the most conservative bill that can make it through Congress.
It’s that conservative voting record, however, which could keep Black voters backing Scott over Biden in 2024, some say. A recent Pew Research Center showed one in 10 Black adults identify with or lean toward the Republican Party.
Black voters tend to vote Democratic, but they are not necessarily a monolith, said South Carolina-based Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.
“Black voters are certainly in tune with those that fight for their shared values,” Seawright said. “Tim Scott has a math problem.”
Scott’s campaign team said about 2,000 people attended the rally that took place in the Buccaneer Field House with a capacity of about 1,000 people. Campaign officials said an overflow room was used.
Allison Miller, 64, of Awendaw, used to go to church with Scott at Seacoast Church and was one those in the crowd.
“I like that he represents every American,” Miller said. “Black and white. Rich and poor. He’s been both you know, He’s been down, he’s been up … I just believe that he can do great things. I believe that he can get a group of people behind him that maybe some of the old school swamp can’t.”
Ken Battle, 67, of North Charleston, who retired from the Air Force Reserves, has volunteered for previous Scott campaigns.
“Tim is that candidate that can unify this country,” Battle said. “And when he says genuinely it’s about God, family and country, he means it.”
