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Sen. Tim Scott makes it official: He’s a Republican candidate for president
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Sen. Tim
Scott of South Carolina made it official Friday: He's running for president. Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring his intention to seek his party's nomination in 2024. His candidacy will test whether a more optimistic vision of America's future can resonate with GOP voters who have elevated partisan brawlers in recent years.
The deeply religious 57-year-old former insurance broker has made his grandfather's work in the cotton fields of the Deep South a bedrock of his political identity. Yet he rejects the notion that racism remains a powerful force in society, and he has cast his candidacy and rise from generational poverty as the realization of a dream only possible in America.
Scott, who last month formed an exploratory committee allowing him to raise and spend money while weighing a White House campaign, has scheduled a formal announcement on Monday at Charleston Southern University, a private Baptist college and Scott's alma mater, in his hometown of North Charleston.
Scott already has scheduled TV ads to begin airing in the early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire early next week, the most significant advertising expenditure by a potential or declared candidate in the early stages of the 2024 nominating campaign.
Scott tries to focus on hopeful themes and avoid divisive language to distinguish himself from the grievance-based politics favored by those leading the GOP field, such as former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who hasn't yet entered the race but is expected to do so soon.
The senator refuses to frame his own life story around the country's racial inequities.He insists that those who disagree with his views on the issue are
trying to "weaponize race to divide us," and that "the truth of my life disproves
their lies."
During a February visit to Iowa, which holds the first GOP presidential caucuses, Scott spoke of a "new American sunrise" rooted in collaboration.
"I see a future where common sense has rebuilt common ground, where we've created real unity, not by compromising away our conservatism, but by winning converts to our conservatism," he said.