Senator Tim Scott, South Carolina’s first Black senator, and now the only Black Republican senator, has declared that he will be contesting for the US presidential elections.
Tim Scott declared his presidential ambition on Monday morning, with a story that he says embodies the American dream.
Tim Scott, aged 57 years old made the official announcement inside the Buccaneer Fieldhouse, at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University, speaking enthusiastically in front of a backdrop of supporters, his name and campaign slogan, “Faith in America.”
“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.
“Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” he said, about the current administration. “And that is why I’m announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America!”
“When I cut your taxes, they called me a prop. When I re-funded the police, they called me a token. When I pushed back on President Biden, they even called me the N-word,” he said. “I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disrupts their lies!”
Tim Scott’s campaign seemed to be more against Joe Biden administration rather than his other presidential candidates.
“America is the city on the hill,” Scott said in closing, walking off the stage to join standing supporters, as he tends to do on the stump. “I’m living proof that God and a good family and the United States of America can do all things if we believe. Will you believe it with me?”
“Tim Scott is the real deal. And he will make a great president of the United States,” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican said, endorsing Tim Scott, “I think our country is ready to be inspired again,” he added.
Tim Scott’s official campaign committee called “Tim Scott for America”, will be based in the Palmetto State. The senator will go head-on-head against former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who are both ahead of him in voter surveys for popularity.
However, Scott’s campaign budget of $22 million, the highest of any presidential candidate in the history of the United States, might do the work.
The official campaign launch started after a season of courting voters including his “Faith in America” town hall meetings after forming a presidential exploratory committee, a step which allows for candidates to start raising money. Staffers say his campaign for president actually birthed after he won 63% of the vote in his reelection to the Senate in November.
Though Scott and Trump are good friends, sources say he did not inform the ex-president, who he slightly condemned for racially-charged comments, of his presidential ambition. However, it remains unclear if he would still put his weight around Trump if he loses the primary election.
