Tim Scott defends being a black Republican while flirting with the 2024 candidacy

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said he will take his time before announcing a run for president but delivered a speech that could pack a punch Thursday night, just two miles from where hopeful Nikki Haley to 2024, he held his first campaign rally.

He headlined the Charleston County Republicans’ fifth annual Black History Month banquet Thursday night and delivered an uplifting message on American race relations, especially thrilling the crowd when he stood up for being a proud black Republican.

“Listen, I understand being treated like a second-class citizen because of the color of my skin,” he said. ‘I refuse, I refuse to be treated as a second class citizen because of the color of my party.’

Before his appearance, Scott spoke to local reporters and said he was not yet ready to announce a 2024 presidential bid, despite launching a “listening tour.” in two key states of the early contest: his home state of South Carolina and then next week in Iowa, where the first Republican caucus will be held early next year.

“We’re going to take our time and listen to the American people and talk about the issues that we think are really important,” Scott said. “I think it is time for an upbeat and positive message anchored in conservative principles.”

That positive message began by telling the audience that they had “so many reasons” to celebrate Black History Month.

“If you dwell on our original sin, you haven’t started American history,” argued Scott, the only black Republican in the US Senate. ‘Because the history of America is not defined by our original sin, history is defined by our redemption.’

“We have made tremendous progress and it is time for us as a people to celebrate the progress we have made,” he added.

He pointed to his own family history, noting that they went from “Cotton to Congress” in just two generations, striking many of the same notes that he has in previous speeches.

Scott’s grandfather was illiterate, had only up to the third grade of education, and picked cotton in the fields of rural South Carolina.

He was raised by a single mother, whom he brought along as his dinner date, and expressed anger that single black mothers are encouraged to have abortions to help their financial future.

Scott talked about how a white mentor from his teens who worked at Chick-fil-A helped him change his academic career.

That guidance plus a partial soccer scholarship allowed him to attend college.

Scott kept direct political attacks to a minimum.

He leveled some anger at President Joe Biden over inflation and also criticized those in the country who “spread the cancer of hopelessness.”

Scott spoke about some good things that happened to historically black colleges and universities under former President Donald Trump, though he didn’t give him full credit or name the 2024 hopeful.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants who delivered her first campaign speech on Wednesday, struck similar notes about race when speaking to her crowd, arguing that the country is not “racist” and criticizing Democrats who suggested it was.

Haley headed to New Hampshire following her 2024 announcement and will also head to Iowa, where Scott will hold his second “listening tour” event next week.

Asked by The Post and Courier In a pre-speech chat about whether he planned to endorse Haley now that it was announced, the South Carolina senator responded in the negative.

Earlier, in a radio interview on Thursday, he had said there was room for at least two Republican hopefuls to come from South Carolina.

Attendees at the Charleston County Republican dinner told DailyMail.com they liked what they heard from Scott, but were also at the beginning of the process to decide who they would select in the South Carolina primary, including former President Donald Trump.

Those who attended Haley’s event on Wednesday were more adamantly against giving the former president another chance.

Mainly, Haley’s supporters said they objected to Trump’s style.

“He was a big believer in his policies, maybe not necessarily in how he did things,” said Trent Watts, 45, a Charleston-based real estate developer.

Watts appeared to see Haley’s presidential announcement because his work brought him downtown on Wednesday and he said he would vote for her in the 2024 South Carolina primary.

Robin Christmas, a semi-retired 63-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, who, like Haley, had been an accountant, echoed Watt’s sentiment on Trump.

“She didn’t do a bad job,” said Christmas, who volunteered for Haley’s campaign. ‘She just talked too much.’

Another campaign volunteer, Judith Shailor, a 74-year resident of Fort Mill, South Carolina, said supporting Trump had been “difficult.”

“I think he did a lot for the country in a lot of ways, but he did a lot of damage. He was divisive. And Nikki Haley is a uniter,” she said.

Shailor, who moved to South Carolina from Vermont and campaigned in Congress against now-Sen. Bernie Sanders, said Haley was a perfect fit for moderate Republicans like her.

“I think the Republican Party needs to stay in the center and that’s what Nikki stands for, the middle of the road, common sense, earthy tone, values ​​and integrity, and we need to stop dividing this country. The far right and the far left are off the rails,” Shailor told DailyMail.com.

At the same time, he expressed enthusiasm for other possible Republican candidates.

“I’m very excited, the Republican Party has a great field of candidates,” she said, pointing to Scott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, though adding that she thought Haley was more “likeable” than DeSantis.

Trump’s harshest assessment came from a Haley supporter who did not give his name.

“I think Trump is done,” he said. “I think the Lin Wood-QAnon people need to wake up,” the woman added.