Senator Tim Scott proposed to his girlfriend Mindy Noce on Saturday, saying it is “the most exciting thing I will do in my life besides making Jesus my Lord.”
Former presidential candidate Scott, 58, proposed to mother-of-three interior designer Noce, 47, on the beach of Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Lifelong single Scott has long been private about his dating life, but after meeting Noce at church a year ago and bonding over Bible study, he said he knew he had met his “soulmate.”
Scott told the Washington Post, “I’ve been very patient and prayerful, and I’m very excited and somewhat nervous.” The couple plans to get married this year.
Now Scott appears firmly in the running for vice president after dropping out of the presidential race last year and endorsing Donald Trump in New Hampshire on Friday.
Scott proposed to Mindy Noce on Saturday in South Carolina
He said he asked for her parents’ permission two weeks before Christmas and spent a month preparing the proposal
He said, “We need a president who sees Americans as one American family. And that is why I have come to the very warm state of New Hampshire to support the next president of these United States, President Donald Trump.”
Scott said he asked Noce’s parents for permission to marry her two weeks before Christmas and then spent a month planning his proposal.
He originally said he was going to ask her after a game of pickleball, but his friend suggested he choose something more romantic.
He settled on Kiawah Island, but said the cold weather meant it was difficult to convince Noce not to wear gloves.
Scott said, “My joke is that as soon as I saw her picture I figured it out. But the truth is, after about two weeks, I knew there was something very different about her and her faith.
‘In our first conversation, which lasted about one and a half to two hours, we finally decided to do a Bible study together.’
Initially, Scott was secretive about their relationship, leading some to wonder if his girlfriend really existed.
He said he was in a relationship during his presidential campaign in May and described her as “a sweet Christian girl” in September, but still did not name her.
Scott brought Noce to the stage after a November debate in Miami
His reluctance prompted the Washington Post to publish an investigation into his “mysterious” love life.
The Post learned that the couple played pickleball and that Scott was embarrassed to discover he was the “weak man on the court.”
Scott’s campaign manager also confirmed to the Post that the woman was real and that they had even been to the zoo together.
But no one saw Noce, or knew her name, until Scott brought her on stage after a debate in Miami in November.
The South Carolina senator has been defensive in the past when his relationship status was compared to that of the last serving president, James Buchanan in 1861.
“The fact that half of the American adult population is single for the first time suggests that whether or not you are married will somehow be the determining factor in whether you are a good president,” Scott said at the time.
“It sounds like we’re living in 1963… not 2023.”
Early in his career, Scott claimed to have been a 30-year-old virgin and campaigned to pledge abstinence.
Scott dropped his own presidential bid and has since endorsed Trump, putting him in the running for vice president
Noce is an interior designer and mother of three living in South Carolina
The design and renovation manager graduated from the College of Charleston, where she studied health sciences
In 2012, after 16 years in public life and winning a seat in the US House at the age of 46 and still unmarried, Scott admitted that he is no longer a virgin.
Noce is a Charleston-based design and renovation consultant. She has lived in South Carolina since graduating from the College of Charleston, where she studied health sciences.
She works as an interior designer for Atlantic Properties of the Lowcountry real estate company.
Noce was introduced to the area when her three older brothers played soccer at The Citadel, according to the company’s website.
She has lived on Isle of Palms and Daniel Island for almost eighteen years and is, as she describes herself, ‘a mover and shaker with a creative eye and a love for people.’
Her Instagram account is full of photos of her interior design work and group photos with her colleagues.