American politician and businessman Timothy Eugene Scott was born on September 19, 1965, and has represented South Carolina as the junior senator since 2013. He served in both the US House of Representatives and the House of Representatives for South Carolina. In addition, he was a Charleston, South Carolina, city councilor. In 2024, he ran for president on the Republican presidential ticket.
Tim Scott of South Carolina decided to halt his presidential campaign soon after the third debate.
The unexpected announcement was made by the South Carolina senator, who came into the race in May with great expectations, along with his closest friend Trey Gowdy, on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America.” According to a campaign staff member who spoke with the Associated Press, the staff discovered that Scott was leaving by watching the show because his announcement was so unexpected. The employees spoke anonymously because they were not permitted to discuss the internal discussions in public.
On Sunday, Tim Scott declared, “I love America more than I did on May 22. However, when I go back to Iowa, I am not going to be a presidential candidate. I am going to postpone my campaign. It is obvious to me that the voters—the most amazing people on the planet, in my opinion—are saying, “Not now, Tim.”
With Scott’s withdrawal, former President Donald Trump has been leading the race, which poses difficulties for him and the other Republican contenders. Many in the party believe that barring an unexpected turn of events, the race is effectively over because Trump leads his rivals in the polls despite four criminal indictments and numerous other legal challenges.
Even though prominent donors have contributed millions of dollars, Scott in particular has had difficulty rising in the polls. Despite his best efforts, he was never able to separate himself from the other contenders, especially during the debates, where he frequently appeared to become lost in the discourse. Scott would need more diverse donors and higher polling numbers, so it was unclear if he would be able to participate in the fourth debate.
Tim Scott is the second significant competitor, having dropped out of the race at the end of October. Two weeks ago, former vice president Mike Pence announced that he was ending his campaign when he said, “This is not my time,” at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas. But Pence’s popularity was declining compared to Scott in the polls, and he was in an even more precarious financial situation—he had taken on debt more than two months before the campaign’s main event, the Iowa caucuses.
With little delay, Scott declared that he would not be supporting any of his remaining Republican opponents. “The voters are really smart,” says Scott. If I did not give them advice on who to back, that would be very beneficial. It seemed as though he had ruled out a vice presidential run when he said, “It has never been on my to-do list for this campaign, and it is not there now.”
The only other South Carolinian remaining in the race is Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s first ambassador to the UN, following Scott’s withdrawal. Scott was recently elected to a second term in the US House when Haley, then governor of Georgia, nominated him to the US Senate in 2012. Many of the donors and supporters who had supported both candidates over the years felt uncomfortable about them running for office in 2024.
Several of Scott’s previous 2024 rivals responded to the announcement on social media. Vivek Ramaswamy made light of an exchange between Scott and Haley during last week’s Republican debate, specifically making fun of Haley, after complimenting Scott on being a “good dude.”
