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South Carolina Senator Tim Scott opened the presidential campaign on Friday, offering an optimistic message that he hopes can distinguish two figures who have used political combativeness to dominate the initial Republican primary field: former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican, made the announcement in his hometown of North Charleston at Southern University, his alma mater and a private school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Our party and our nation stand in time to vote. Victim or victory?” he told cheering supporters, adding, “Grievance or greatness?
“I choose freedom, and hope and opportunity.”
He said the party needs a candidate who can energize more than its base.
Scott has often blamed Democrats for raising what he called false social and political grievances. But giving sentiments about the party could be an alternative for Trump, who for years has repeatedly lied about how he was denied a second term by fraud that did not happen during the 2020 presidential election.
DeSantis, now, has pushed Florida to the right by opposing controversial new bans on abortion and LGBTQ rights, and seeking to limit the power of the Disney corporation, one of the most powerful business interests in his state.
Scott, 57, planned to huddle with home-state donors after the kickoff event, then began a whirlwind, two-day swing campaign for Iowa and New Hampshire, which was the first in the primary vote for the Republican president.
The announcement meeting included an opening prayer by Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s No. 1 Republican. Republican Senator Mike Rounds, South Dakota’s other senator, has announced his support for Scott.
Several prominent Republican senators have backed Trump’s third bid for the White House, including Scott’s South Carolina colleague, Lindsey Graham. However, Trump struck a conciliatory tone to begin with, welcoming Scott into the race in an online post Monday and noting the pair worked together on the administration’s signature tax cuts.
Cash in hand
The source of power for Scott will be his campaign bank account. He entered the 2024 race with more money than any other presidential candidate in US history, with $22 million left in his campaign account at the end of the 2022 campaign that could be transferred to the president’s coffers.
The team says that’s enough money to keep Scott on the air with continuous TV ads in early voting states until the first round of next year’s election.
Scott also won re-election in Republican South Carolina – which polled third in the Republican presidential primary calendar – by more than 20 points less than six months ago. A betting tip that could make Scott a serious contender for an early primary win could give him momentum deeper into the primary race.
But Scott wasn’t South Carolina’s only choice. The country’s former governor, Nikki Haley, who also served as Trump’s UN ambassador, officially entered the primary race a few months ago.
Like others in the Republican race, including former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson and Woke, Inc. author Vivek Ramaswamy, Scott’s initial task will be to find a way to stand out in the field led by Trump and DeSantis, the latter can announce his own bid as early as this week.
One of the ways in which Scott is expected is his trademark optimistic rhetoric. With his Christian faith an integral part of his political and personal story, Scott often quotes the Bible at campaign events, weaving his reliance on spiritual guidance into his stump speeches and even naming himself “Faith in America” on his pre-launch listening tour. .
Scott said there is an American promise that means “you and I can rise as high as our character, our grit and our talent will take us.”
“That’s why I’m the candidate the far left is afraid of.”
The Democratic National Committee responded to Scott’s announcement by rejecting the notion that Scott offered many alternatives to Trump’s policies.
DNC Chair Jamie Harrison, who is running unsuccessfully for the Senate in South Carolina in 2020, released a statement Monday calling the senator a “supporter of the MAGA agenda,” a reference to the former president’s Make America Great Again movement.
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