WASHINGTON — Rep. Tim Scott likes to say that his political ambitions depend on what God has in store for him.

God may be about to place the likeable North Charleston lawmaker with the broad smile in the U.S. Senate.

It would be a big move for Scott, who is completing his first term in the House of Representatives, and an even bigger move for a Republican Party desperately seeking diversity.

Scott, a devout Christian who formerly was a state representative and county commissioner, already will be the only African-American Republican in the next session of Congress, following the defeat of U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., in last month’s elections.

But the possible appointment of Scott by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley to replace U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of Greenville, the firebrand conservative who announced his surprise resignation Thursday, would make the Lowcountry native just the seventh black senator in U.S. history — a group that includes President Barack Obama of Illinois — and only the fifth since Reconstruction.

There have been three Republican African-Americans in the Senate, but only one — Edward Brooke of Massachusetts — has served since the post-Civil War era. Scott would be the first African-American U.S. senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Scott’s is one of many names being floated as a possible successor to DeMint, who is leaving to become president of the Heritage Foundation, an influential Washington think tank. DeMint is pushing Haley to name Scott as the senator’s successor.

Tara Wall, an African-American who was a senior media adviser to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said Scott’s promotion would be a boon to both their conservative cause and their party.

“It would be a significant nod to conservatism and inclusion,” Wall said. “Scott is a very personable, well-respected, highly committed congressman who has been tireless in his advocacy of faith, economic freedom and entrepreneurship. He’d make a fantastic senator.”

‘Not a panacea’

Scott’s promotion would make him a major Republican figure overnight, especially in light of the focus of many party leaders on broadening the GOP’s demographic base after Romney’s poor showing last month among Hispanics, blacks, Asians and women.

Since joining Congress almost two years ago, Scott has juggled competing loyalties to the Tea Party enthusiasts who helped elect him and to House Speaker John Boehner, who chose Scott as a leader of the large 2010 House Republican freshman class.

Former Republican national chairman Michael Steele, an African-American who met some resistance when he tried to expand the party’s outreach, said the elevation of Scott would be important, but only as a starting point.

“We have a tendency to put every egg in one basket,” Steele said. “It would not be a panacea to what the party has to face in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.”

Haley herself is a symbol of diversity for South Carolina’s Republican Party. The daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, she is the first woman and the first ethnic minority to become governor in South Carolina.

Haley and Scott served together in the state General Assembly before her election as governor and his as U.S. representative in 2010.

DeMint’s designated successor?

Scott, 47, said Friday that he and Haley were on friendly terms but hadn’t spoken since last week, when she met with the S.C. congressional delegation after addressing the Republican Governors Association.

Asked whether he would be honored to accept an offer from Haley, Scott didn’t deny interest but was noncommittal.

“That’s really premature, honestly,” he said. “Nikki has a difficult decision to make; she doesn’t really need me weighing in on it through the media. She’ll make it in the interests of South Carolinians and America. I am not going to make any prognosis without having anything to go on besides the prospect of something.”

Scott said he spoke with DeMint on Thursday morning when the senator called the other six Republican members of Congress from South Carolina to tell them he was resigning before making the news public.

Scott, who grew up poor in North Charleston as one of three children of a single mother, responded carefully when asked whether DeMint had told him that he was DeMint’s choice to take his seat as junior senator to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca.

“I don’t recall it being that clear,” Scott said. “We really didn’t spend any meaningful time on who he wanted to replace him.”

Like President Obama, Scott doesn’t dwell on race. He sees himself as fulfilling the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for a colorblind society that will focus more on personal character than skin complexion.

As a member of the Charleston County Commission, Scott spoke out strongly against racial profiling by police and backed a measure to restrain it. But after campaigning to bring down the Confederate flag atop the S.C. State House, he voted to kill a resolution demanding its removal. (The flag subsequently was moved.)

‘A great future’

If Haley chooses Scott to replace DeMint, and he accepts the appointment, the former high school football star would have to run for re-election in 2014.

That prospect might be the ultimate test for Scott’s party. Mississippi’s two Reconstruction-era minority senators were chosen by their state legislature. Voters in the South never have elected an African-American to the Senate.

But Tom Snyder, a white business executive with Sunpak Logistics in Sumter, said Scott has earned his support over the past nearly two decades.

“I just don’t judge people by the color of their skin,” Snyder said. “I judge them on their vision of leadership and who they are as a person. And I know Tim Scott as a person who has got a great future.”