Sen. Tim Scott formally dived into the presidential race Monday, telling voters that President Joe Biden and Democrats support policies that would strip the country of the opportunities that paved the way for his rags-to-riches story.
What You Need To Know
- Sen. Tim Scott formally dived into the presidential race Monday, telling voters that President Joe Biden and Democrats support policies that would strip the country of the opportunities that paved the way for his rags-to-riches story
- Scott criticized them for allowing “waitresses and mechanics” to help pay for the student loan forgiveness “of lawyers and doctors making six figures,” for having weak border policies that allow migrants and fentanyl to pour into the country, and for “demonizing, demoralizing and defunding the police”
- Scott said if he were elected president, he’d secure the Southwest border, including by completing the wall started under Trump; win the economic competition against China; strengthen the economy; and bolster the military
- Scott enters the race as a long shot but has money on his side — $22 million unspent from his Senate campaign
“Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” Scott, the lone Black Republican in the Senate, said during a speech at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University, in North Charleston, South Carolina. “And that’s why I’m announcing today that I’m running for President of the United States.”
Scott joins a GOP field that also includes former President Donald Trump, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and the person who first appointed him to the Senate, former United Nations Ambassador and ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to enter the race this week, and others could soon follow suit.
Known for his optimistic outlook, Scott, 57, told the stories of his grandfather, who once picked cotton in the Jim Crow South but later saw his grandson ascend to a seat in Congress, and his single mother, who worked 16-hour days as a nurse’s aide to support his family.
His grandfather, he said, had a “stubborn faith in God, in himself and faith in what America would be. He looked beyond the pain of his present, and he saw the promise of his future.” And his mother’s work ethic “taught me that there is dignity in all work.”
Interwoven into Scott’s anecdotes about inspiration were attacks on Biden and Democrats. To name a few, he criticized them for allowing “waitresses and mechanics” to help pay for the student loan forgiveness “of lawyers and doctors making six figures,” for having weak border policies that allow migrants and fentanyl to pour into the country, and for “demonizing, demoralizing and defunding the police.”
He said, under Biden, the country is “retreating” from patriotism, religious liberty, security, dignity in work, excellence in schools and more.
Scott did not mention Trump or any of his other competitors for the GOP nomination, but he said he believes he’s the candidate “the far-left fears the most.”
“When I cut your taxes, they called me a prop,” he said. “When I refunded the police, they called me a token. When I pushed back on President Biden, they even called me the N-word. I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disrupts their lives.”
Scott said if he were elected president, he’d secure the Southwest border, including by completing the wall started under Trump; win the economic competition against China; strengthen the economy; and bolster the military.
He pointed to his role as one of the lead authors in the 2017 Republican tax reform law. The legislation, he said, cut taxes for families, brought jobs and investment back from overseas and created “opportunity zones,” which are state-designated, economically distressed communities ripe for investment.
“That was just one bill,” Scott said. “Imagine what we could do with an entire agenda.”
Scott also said he would require every able-bodied American to work and give parents a greater choice in the schools their children attend and a voice in their curriculum.
Scott repeated a declaration he famously made in a televised 2021 speech following Biden’s first joint address of Congress when the South Carolina senator said, “America is not a racist country.”
“I’m living proof that America is the land of opportunity and not a land of oppression.”
He also said, “We need to stop canceling our Founding Fathers” — many of whom owned slaves — “and start celebrating them for the geniuses that they were.”
“They weren’t perfect, but they believed that we could become a more perfect union,” Scott said.
Scott enters the race as a long shot. A Harvard University-Harris poll last week found that just 1% of Republicans support him for the nomination, far behind Trump at 58%.
But the South Carolina senator has money on his side — $22 million unspent from his Senate campaign.
Scott is expected to head this week to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states holding GOP primaries. He’s planning a $5.5 million ad blitz in those states starting as early as next week and running through the first GOP debate in late August, The Associated Press reported.
Spectrum News has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
In a series of tweets Monday, the Democratic National Committee said Scott supports a national abortion ban, legislation that could lead to some forms of birth control being banned and cuts to Medicare and Social Security. The DNC also shared an excerpt from an interview in which Scott said he and Trump don’t have many policy differences.
Trump wished Scott luck.
“It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious [DeSantis], who is totally unelectable,” Trump said in a statement. “I got Opportunity Zones done with Tim, a big deal that has been highly successful.”
Note: This article was updated to include the response from the Democratic National Committee.
