South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is wrapping up his presidential campaign, telling Fox News host Trey Gowdy in an interview Sunday, “I love America more today than I did on May 22nd. But when I return to Iowa, it won’t be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign.”
The announcement reportedly came as a surprise even to some of Scott’s aides, and CNN reported that some close to him were unaware that he would be suspending the campaign.
The Associated Press also reports that some of Scott’s campaign aides learned he was dropping out of the race only after watching his Fox News interview.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina is entering the 2024 presidential race
Scott, 57, announced his presidential campaign in May, saying, “Our party and our nation stand at a moment of choice: sacrifice or victory.”
Scott came into the national spotlight in 2021, when he officially repudiated the Republican Party in President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress.
As a presidential candidate, he failed to break through the crowded GOP field, which has been thinned in recent weeks by the suspension of former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign. At an event in Las Vegas, Pence said, “This is not my time,” and announced he would drop out of the race in October.
In addition to Pence, Scott was also competing for the Republican nomination with technology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and of course Donald Trump, who is leading in the polls.
Mike Pence dropped out of the 2024 presidential race: ‘This is not my time’
Although some rumors have suggested that Scott could be among Trump’s picks for vice president, the senator told Fox News that he has no intention of accepting the vice presidential nomination.
“I ran for president to be president,” he told the network on Sunday. “I think I was called to run. I’m not called to win, but I’m certainly called to run. … Being vice president was never on my to-do list for this campaign, and it certainly isn’t now.”
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Before joining the Senate, Scott served one term in the US House of Representatives. He also served one term in the South Carolina House of Representatives and 14 years on the Charleston City Council.
As a senator, Scott took office in 2013 and remains the only black Republican in the Senate; he, along with Democratic senators Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock, are the only black senators.
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Source: HIS Education