Last month, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina took a big step toward challenging former President Donald Trump for the GOP’s 2024 nomination. At the time, Scott announced an exploratory committee to weigh a possible run for president.
Now, Scott appears to have made a decision.
Sponsored: Did You Know This About Coffee?
The senator said Sunday that he would make an announcement on May 22.
Scott didn’t definitively say that he’ll be announcing his official campaign, but he told those gathered at a downtown Charleston school during a town hall that he would be coming out with his decision at an event in about three weeks in North Charleston, which he calls home.
“It is time to make the final step,” Scott said to a room packed with cheering supporters, as well as a film crew, which a longtime Scott adviser said was gathering “content” for future use, a flick at a potential launch or campaign ad video.
“We will have a major announcement,” Scott added.
Take a look —
May 22.
North Charleston.
It’s time to take the final step.
See y’all there! pic.twitter.com/uW8Lr1ISHz
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) April 30, 2023
Scott, 57, has been inching ever closer to formally entering the GOP nomination race, where he would join other announced candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and “anti-woke” biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Another of those is Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor. Haley, as governor, appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012.
[6-hour stunner!] Memory improved in less than a day? [sponsored]
Haley hasn’t commented on Scott’s potential entry into the race, and Scott has dismissed suggestions of any awkwardness in running against the former governor who appointed him to his Senate seat.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are among those considering launching their own presidential campaigns in the coming months.
Scott has already released videos that could function as campaign ads. In a video announcing the exploratory committee, Scott positioned himself as the antidote to the “radical left,” with a self-made success story as the son of a single mother who overcame poverty, and bemoaned Democratic leaders as needlessly dividing the country by fostering a “culture of grievance.”
“When I fought back against their liberal agenda, they called me a prop. A token. Because I disrupt their narrative,” he said in the video, which was shot on the site of Fort Sumter in his hometown of Charleston, where the Civil War’s first shots were fired. “I threaten their control.”
In February — a day after Haley’s official campaign launch — Scott kicked off a listening tour that has taken him to other early voting states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, where he’s held events ranging from political meetings with evangelical pastors to town halls and speeches. In his time on the trail, Scott has tried to present a more positive vision for the future than many of his potential rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Scott told The Associated Press in Iowa that voters he has spoken with respond favorably to his optimistic outlook for the country and his conservative ideals.
“I think my candidacy is really designed around what the American people want to talk about, what their priorities are and what their issues are,” Scott told AP.
Sponsored: Just a spoonful of “Youth Powder” restored senior health
If Scott enters the race, he would have just over one month to raise money before the end of the second quarter, with more candidates in the GOP field intensifying the competition for donor dollars.
Some observers consider Scott a long-shot candidate. One commentator even compared Scott to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a presidential candidate known for running a comically weak campaign in 2016.
But Scott has already proven that he can attract significant money. A pro-Scott super PAC, Opportunity Matters Fund, spent more than $20 million to help Republicans in 2022 and reported $13 million-plus on hand to start 2023. Tech billionaire Larry Ellison has donated at least $30 million to the organization since 2021, according to federal filings.
Sunday’s town hall took place at Meeting Street Academy, part of a charter school network founded by one of Scott’s top donors, Charleston philanthropist Ben Navarro. Scott was introduced by South Carolina businessman and longtime supporter Mike Johnson, who is serving as a national finance co-chair for Scott and a day after the planned May 22 announcement is hosting a day-long “call day and retreat” with Scott supporters.
Scott gave the GOP’s response to Biden’s 2021 State of the Union, filling a role normally reserved for rising stars.
In the Senate, he has sponsored successful bills to research blood disorders, fund historically Black colleges, and allow nonprofits easier access to grants. He serves on the Banking Committee.
The Associated Press and The Horn editorial team contributed to this article.