Sen. Tim Scott Launches 2024 Presidential Exploratory Committee

A 2024 presidential campaign exploratory committee has been launched by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R), taking a major step toward a Republican primary arena dominated by former President Donald Trump thus far.

“This is personal to me,” said Scott, 57, in a video announcing the committee. “I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional. And that’s why I’m announcing my exploratory committee for president of the United States.”

Scott’s presidential aspirations put him on a collision course with Nikki Haley, a previous South Carolina Governor and United Nations ambassador for the Republicans who launched her own presidential campaign in February.

Both may have a difficult time defeating Trump, the party’s de facto leader, and dislodging the presumed candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as the GOP voters’ preferred alternative to Trump. In early Republican primary polling, Trump has reigned supreme, while DeSantis has usually held the second spot.

Scott made history by becoming the first Black senator elected in the US; since the period of American history known as the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, he’s the first to do so in the southern United States. He is currently the only Black Republican in the Senate.

In a video declaring his candidacy on Wednesday morning, Scott criticised President Joe Biden and the left for attempting to use race as a weapon to divide Americans. Due to the fact that “I disrupt their narrative,” he accused his political enemies of labeling him a “prop” and a “token.”

Scott’s committee observed that his video was shot near Fort Sumter, where the Civil War’s first significant conflict occurred in South Carolina, on the day marking the start of the Civil War.

The senator, who has been touring key primary states, is planning another swing this week through Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, his committee revealed.

Scott’s plans to run for president were well-publicized. In a fundraising email from March, Scott even jokingly teased, “I wanted you to hear this from me first, Friend. I’ve made a decision… To go to church!”

This is a breaking news story. Further updates will follow.