Will SC’s Tim Scott run for president in 2024? He hints at a ‘surprise return candidate’
Speaking to South Carolina Republicans Sunday, Sen. Tim Scott was asked the big question: Would he run for president in 2024?
Scott sidestepped the question, saying he’s concentrating on his 2022 campaign.
“I’m a guy who’s running for reelection,” Scott told the crowd at the South Carolina Republican Action Conference. “I thank God for those who want to talk about the presidency, but you know what we may have a surprise return candidate.”
Scott said later that if former President Donald Trump ran for a second term, he would support him, and that for the time being, he was staying out of all races aside from his reelection bid.
“I’m not running for president at this point at all,” he told reporters after his speech.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador under Trump, said the same in April.
“I would not run if President Trump ran,” she told reporters.
In front of an audience of South Carolina Republicans, Scott outlined how he the party should oppose Democrats and President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The state’s junior senator said the party is united, and any divide would only help Democrats.
“A divided Republican Party is a road to socialism,” Scott said. “It’s because I’m starting to see our party is waking up to the reality that we are that firewall, and so I’m excited to see that we are more unified today than we have been in years.”
Following months of racial justice protests in 2020, Scott helped lead a bipartisan effort seeking national police reform, though those negotiations broke down. Scott in recent years has also had success creating opportunity zones, a pillar of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
As he seeks reelection, Scott said his primary project is opposing the spending packages Democrats and the Biden administration are currently pushing. One package would invest around $1 trillion in infrastructure nationwide. A second package would spend nearly $2 trillion on various social programs over 10 years.
“I think we have to continue to work on the situation with all these massive packages,” Scott said. “The content is far more concerning than the price. The price is a nightmare. But literally the content of these packages is not very well known.”
He criticized increased tax credits for people to buy electric cars and tax credits for manufacturers who make electric cars in places where workers are unionized.
Scott compared the packages to a popular Halloween film.
“The price is a nightmare, but the content is a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street,’” Scott said. “People don’t know the facts.”
Scott pointed to polling that shows most people around the country don’t understand what’s in the plan pushed by Democrats. An ABC News/Ipsos poll found about 70% of Americans are unaware of the contents of the legislation.
“Until we help people understand what’s in the (packages), we have not done all of the work that needs to be done,” Scott said.
Asked about divisions in the Republican party and if those disagreements could imperil the party as it heads into the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential elections, Scott said Democratic party was careening toward socialism and that Republicans were united in opposition.
“It’s one of the things that when you’re in a very entrepreneurial-type party, everybody has their own ideas,” Scott said. “But our idea, collectively, is saving this country from socialism. That unites us.”
On COVID-19, Scott said he was wholly opposed to vaccine mandates, but encouraged people to get the vaccine on their own accord.
“I think you should get the vaccine personally, but the mandate is bad,” Scott said. “You should never be forced to get something you don’t want.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Will SC’s Tim Scott run for president in 2024? He hints at a ‘surprise return candidate’."
