Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, is actively supporting former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and is considered a potential running mate. Scott has been meeting with top Republican donors to raise money for Trump and has organized several fundraising events. He believes that a second Trump presidency would boost the economy and benefit America’s future.
While Scott acknowledges other potential candidates for the vice presidential nomination, he emphasizes that his focus is on ensuring Trump’s victory. Despite Nikki Haley’s recent success in the Indiana Republican primary, Scott remains optimistic about the party’s unity under Trump’s leadership.
Scott’s support for Trump is notable because he was one of roughly a dozen Republican candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before ending his White House bid late last year. However, Scott has since endorsed Trump and become a top surrogate for him.
Scott has been very active in helping Trump raise money. He was among the potential Trump running mates on hand this past weekend at an RNC spring donor retreat that was headlined by the former president. The senator helped organize a major fundraiser for Trump this year ahead of the South Carolina primary. Next week, he’s scheduled to attend a top-dollar fundraiser in New York City for the former president.
Scott was a voracious fundraiser as he cruised to a very comfortable 2022 Senate re-election, and he transferred much of his unused campaign cash over to his 2024 White House effort.
Asked if his fundraising efforts on behalf of Trump give him a leg up in the competition for the vice presidential nomination, Scott kept on message, saying, “I certainly hope that all of our efforts will lead to a better America with one result: Donald Trump having four more years.”
As for any competition between him and the other potential contenders, Scott would only say that “my goal isn’t to be in a better position than someone else who wants something. My goal is to make sure that the next generation of leaders looks at me and others and says, ‘Those guys, they burned a path that we get to walk down.'”
Scott was interviewed the day after Indiana’s Republican presidential primary, where former Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won over 21% of the vote against Trump, even though she ended her White House bid two months ago.
Haley, who was the last candidate standing against Trump before dropping out in March, has not endorsed the former president. Asked if he had reached out to his fellow South Carolinian in an attempt to mend relations with Trump’s political orbit, the senator said no.
But Scott argued that “the good news is that the voters and the fundraising machine that supported [Haley’s] candidacy and our candidacy and other candidates are all coming back into the fold. The good news is President Trump is a unifying force for our party.”
Scott’s comments suggest that he believes Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination and that the party is rallying behind him. However, Haley’s strong showing in Indiana indicates that there is still some support for alternatives to Trump within the GOP. It remains to be seen whether Scott or any other potential candidate will be able to challenge Trump’s dominance in the race.
