Sen. Tim Scott Monday launched his 2024 Republican presidential campaign with a message of hope that he hopes will cut through the negativity of the political realm.
The South Carolina conservative enters as a prohibitive underdog in a GOP race dominated for now by former President Donald Trump and his nearest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But Scott hopes to parlay his optimistic message and political skills as the only Black GOP senator to make a credible run in the contest to take on President Biden.
He trumpets America as a “colorblind” society that should put bitter racial and partisan divisions behind it.
“Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country,” Scott said in a message rebutting President Biden’s State of the Union speech in 2021. “It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present.”
Scott will make his campaign announcement before a crowd of supporters in his hometown of North Charleston.
He’ll spend Tuesday with donors in Charleston before a two-day campaign swing to Republican early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
He joins a growing field including fellow South Carolina native Nikki Haley, ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
DeSantis is expected to jump into the race in the next few days and ex-Vice President Mike Pence might not be far behind.
Whether any of the Republican candidates have what it takes to give Trump a run for his money remains to be seen. Despite the grumbling about his electability, the MAGA leader appears to have forged majority support among the GOP electorate.
Trump’s mounting legal woes appear to have only rallied Republicans behind him, although his most serious cases are still on the horizon.