Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Monday formally kicked off his long-shot bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, betting there is a deep desire in the party for a happy warrior to lead conservatives into the next election.
Mr. Scott, the sole Black Republican in the Senate, said his life story embodies the American dream and said the Biden administration and the “radical left” have steered the nation in the wrong direction.
“Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb, and that is why I am announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America!” the 57-year-old lawmaker said on stage at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University, a private Baptist school.
“You see they’re attacking our American values; our schools; our economy and our security,” Mr. Scott said. “But not on my watch! Not on my watch!”
Mr. Scott said he is the “candidate the far left fears the most,” noting how they have referred to him as a “prop,” “token,” and “the N-word” during political battles over taxes and policing on Capitol Hill.
“I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control,” Mr. Scott said. “The truth of my life disproves their lies.”
Mr. Scott joins a race that includes former President Donald Trump, and fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is expected to launch his bid for the GOP nomination later this week. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy also are running.
Mr. Trump wished Mr. Scott “good luck” and took aim at Mr. DeSantis.
“Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Mr. Scott seeks to separate himself from the group, in part, by highlighting his humble beginnings.
“We live in the land where it is possible for a kid raised in poverty by a single-parent household in a small apartment … to one day serve in the People’s House … and maybe even the White House,” Mr. Scott said, sparking cheers from his supporters. “This is the greatest country on God’s green Earth.”
Mr. Scott highlighted the story of his grandfather. Born in 1921 in the Deep South, his grandfather maintained an unwavering faith in the nation despite receiving only a third-grade education and having to pick cotton, he said.
“This Black man who struggled through the Jim Crow South believed then what some doubt now: In the goodness of America,” he said. “He chose patriotism over pity. He focused on the windshield of life, not the rearview mirror.
“And today, I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression,” Mr. Scott said.
Mr. Scott said Mr. Biden “is weak” and said the nation on the Democrat’s watch has been retreating “away from patriotism and faith,” “away from work and dignity,” and “away from excellence in our schools.”
He vowed to bolster border security, strengthen the military and do more to help veterans and support police officers.
“I will lead a revolution for excellence in our schools. Less CRT and more ABCs,” he said, referring to critical-race theory.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, threw his support behind Mr. Scott at the campaign launch, saying the South Carolinian is an “aspirational and inspirational candidate.”
“I don’t know about you, but I think our country is ready to be inspired again,” Mr. Thune told the crowd in North Charleston. “Tim Scott is the real deal, and he will make a great president of the United States.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, also of South Dakota, endorsed Mr. Scott last week.
Mr. Scott faces an uphill battle, according to polls that show Mr. Trump as the clear front-runner in the nomination battle. He barely registers in those surveys.
This week, Mr. Scott plans to travel to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two stops on the nomination calendar.
Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Mr. Scott “wants to govern from the ’far-conservative right,’” and was a “fierce advocate” for Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda.
“As an ’architect’ of Trump’s tax law, Scott gifted corporations billions and has been a longtime champion of rolling back regulations on big banks,” Mr. Harrison said. “There’s no question that special interests are celebrating as Tim Scott throws his hat into the 2024 race for the MAGA base.”
The South Carolina Democrat Party said Mr. Scott “is just another extreme candidate running to enact the MAGA agenda” and put up a billboard that reminded votes he backed Mr. Trump’s agenda “nearly 100% of the time as a senator.”
Mr. Scott has served in the Senate since 2013, when Mrs. Haley appointed him to the seat after Sen. Jim DeMint retired.
Prior to that, he served in the House, as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and the Charleston County Council.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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