Tim Scott has officially jumped into the 2024 presidential race, and his Senate colleagues long tired of Donald Trump are slowly lining up to show support for his upstart challenge.
“Tim Scott is a good man,” Senator Bill Cassidy told DailyMail.com in an interview. And the contrast between his character and the character of others is quite remarkable. I think very highly of him.’
The Louisiana Republican declined to say when he would support the race, even though he said Trump and Joe Biden would be “disqualified” for “lying” about his favorite issue of this Congress: Social Security reform.
“We know that a week in politics is an eternity. We still have many weeks, so we have many eternities before the first primary.”
Tim Scott has officially jumped into the 2024 presidential race, and his Senate colleagues long tired of Donald Trump are slowly lining up to show support for his fledgling challenge
Scott’s GOP primary poll numbers hovered around two percent, but his team insists they will grow when he officially enters the race
John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, intends to support Scott — and considered making comments Monday at his announcement event in North Charleston.
South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds had already announced his support for Scott before jumping into the race.
“I think he’s the closest thing to Ronald Reagan you’re going to see,” Rounds told the Washington Examiner.
Cassidy explained in detail on Sunday why he doesn’t believe Trump could win a general election on CNN.
The Louisiana senator was asked if Governor Ron DeSantis recently told donors that there are only three viable candidates in 2024: himself, Trump and President Biden.
“Tim Scott is a good man,” Senator Bill Cassidy told DailyMail.com in an interview. And the contrast between his character and the character of others is quite remarkable. I have a high opinion of him’
John Thune, the Senate GOP Whip, intends to support Scott
A few things: I don’t think Trump can win a general election, but that’s a nice way for him to get rid of people like Senator Tim Scott, who is a pretty formidable candidate. You have to see this as a competitor trying to diss others.’
“On the other hand, during the last election cycle in all swing states – almost all – Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona, we saw the Senate candidates who supported Trump all lose.”
“If you had taken the votes that went to other Republicans and added them together, those Republicans would have won,” he explained. “So I think the president’s conspicuous endorsement of those candidates actually hurt those candidates, at least in the general election.”
“So if the past is a prologue, it means President Trump is going to have a hard time in the swing states, which means he can’t win a general election,” he concluded.
Scott’s GOP primary polls have hovered around two percent, but his team insists they will grow when he officially enters the race. The senator has $22 million in cash – a treasury that could launch him into serious competition with the top two frontrunners in the race – Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Scott, one of the country’s most prominent black Republicans, leans on his “cotton to Congress” life story – his grandfather dropped out of third grade to pick cotton, his mother raised him as a single mother, and Scott himself was the first black man to serve in both the House and Senate.
For Scott, Trump’s policies were not the problem. His campaign will certainly be heavy on rosy messages and light on policy differences with the former president.
“I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression,” Scott said in his opening salvo on Monday.
“Our nation, our values and our people are strong, but our president is weak.”
He has made faith and education the twin pillars of his campaign, frequently quoting scripture during his pre-launch announcement speech and Faith in America “listening tour.”
Scott relies on his level-headedness, track record (a favorite is the so-called Opportunity Zones written into the 2017 tax cuts) — and close relations in the Senate — to bring him to the forefront.
Scott has thus far opted not to call out Trump directly — and while talking about his own racial identity, he often berates Democrats for promoting “victimization” over “personal responsibility.”
But at a New Hampshire town hall earlier this month, Scott could have alluded to Trump and his continued focus on 2020 when he said, “The seeds of greatness, not the seeds of resentment, is our future.”
Trump, in turn, has avoided attacking Scott as well.
“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott running in the Republican presidential primary. It fills up with a lot of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable. I’ve done Opportunity Zones with Tim, a big deal that’s been very successful. Good luck Tim!’