Sen. Tim Scott plans to launch 2024 exploratory committee Wednesday

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina plans to launch an exploratory committee for president on Wednesday, in accordance with a supply aware of his plans.

Scott – the one Black Republican within the Senate – has been testing the waters for months. Since setting off on a listening tour in February centered on “Religion in America,” he’s made frequent visits to Iowa.

He’s scheduled to carry occasions within the early voting state on Wednesday.

The Submit and Courier was first to report on the plans.

“I’ve been doing quite a lot of pondering the previous few months,” Scott wrote in a Tuesday night time e-mail to his supporters teasing a Wednesday morning announcement on Fox. “I’ve been interested by my religion. I’ve been interested by the way forward for our nation. And I’ve been interested by the Left’s plan to spoil America.”

Scott simply gained reelection to the Senate final fall and ended the 12 months with greater than $21 million in his marketing campaign account, which he might use for a presidential bid.

Former President Donald Trump, who introduced his marketing campaign to win again the White Home final fall, has led the GOP main area, whereas Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – who has but to announce a bid – has additionally attracted consideration from GOP voters. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – a frequent Trump critic – introduced that he’s working for the GOP nomination earlier this month. And Scott’s fellow South Carolinian, former Gov. Nikki Haley, introduced her bid in February.

Scott declined to endorse Haley – who appointed him to a vacant Senate seat in 2012 – an indication that he might search the presidency himself. Each South Carolinians had attended the anti-tax group Membership for Progress’s donor retreat in Palm Seaside earlier this 12 months alongside different potential GOP candidates.

At a Christian conservative discussion board in his house state final month, Scott took purpose at President Joe Biden’s financial coverage and what he referred to as the “disrespect” of legislation enforcement.

He mentioned that to “restore religion in America, we have to be the celebration of safety,” arguing for extra funding for police departments and to “shut the US southern border, interval.”

Scott spent months in Congress making an attempt unsuccessfully to hash out a deal on policing reform with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and then-Rep. Karen Bass of California. He spoke on the Senate flooring following the brutal police beating and dying of Tyre Nichols earlier this 12 months, whereas calling on his colleagues to agree on “easy laws” concerning police reform.

He’s often spoken out towards Trump – for instance, after the previous president equivocated on racially motivated protesters and subsequent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

“I’m not going to defend the indefensible. I’m not right here to do this,” Scott mentioned in an interview with Vice Information on the time, occurring so as to add that Trump’s “ethical authority” had been “compromised.”

Scott delivered the GOP response to Biden’s deal with to a joint session of Congress in 2021, which gave him a outstanding nationwide platform from which to talk to the nation and counter Biden’s message.

Earlier than becoming a member of the Senate, Scott served one time period within the US Home. He additionally served within the South Carolina state Home and on the Charleston County Council.

This story has been up to date with further info.