Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina Enters 2024 Presidential Race
The 57-year-old lawmaker joined the Senate in 2013 after a brief stint in the U.S. House, and remains the only Black Republican in Congress' upper chamber right now
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has filed paperwork to run for president in 2024, the Federal Election Commission's website shows, ahead of the Republican's expected campaign launch on Monday.
The 57-year-old senator took office in 2013 and remains the lone Black Republican in the Senate; he, along with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock, are the only sitting Black senators.
Scott propelled into the national spotlight in 2021, when he delivered the official GOP rebuttal to President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress.
In his response following Biden's speech, Scott said America should take the president's remarks as little more than sweet-sounding promises from someone who seemed like a "good man" speaking "good words."
"This was the pitch, you just heard it again," Scott said. "But our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes."
Related:What to Know About Sen. Tim Scott, Who Gave GOP Response to Biden's Speech to Congress
Scott has also made headlines for leading across-the-aisle negotiations in Congress' effort to find a compromise on police reform. Scott has previously spoken out about police brutality, delivering an impassioned speech during the Republican National Convention following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
"Our country is experiencing something none of us envisioned. From a global pandemic, to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, 2020 has tested our nation in ways we haven't seen for decades," Scott said then, later imploring voters to not only look at what the candidates had said "but to look back at what they've done."
In 2020, CNN reported that Scott had seen an increase in "racist and profanity-laced voicemails at his office" since taking on police reform, with staff members telling the outlet at least one of the messages referred to the senator as "Uncle Tim."
Speaking to the outlet, Scott said he was "a pretty resilient guy," adding: "I carry everywhere I go in South Carolina and I have security almost everywhere I go."
Related:Black GOP Senator Tim Scott Reveals He's Been Stopped by Police 7 Times in One Year
In announcing his bid for the presidency, Scott pits himself directly against former President Donald Trump, who announced his own run in November.
If history is any indication, Scott won't shy away from criticizing the former president, who he previously lambasted for remarks and tweets he said were "racially offensive" and "indefensible."
Related:Who Is Running for President in 2024? Confirmed and Rumored Republican and Democratic Candidates
Scott's criticism of Trump came in response to the former president's now-infamous comments that there were fine people on "both sides" of the violence during the 2017 white nationalist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va.
Asked about Trump's remarks, Scott said the former president had "compromised his moral authority to lead."
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"What the president should do before he says something is to sit down and become better acquainted, have a personal connection to the painful history of racism and bigotry of this country," he said. "It would be fantastic if he sat down with a group of folks who endured the pain of the sixties… the humiliation of the fifties and the sixties."
Scott continued: "This would be an opportunity for him to become better educated and acquainted with the looping history of so many folks, from John Lewis to my mother and so many others, who have gone through the painful parts of the history of this country."
Prior to joining the Senate, Scott served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's also served one term in the South Carolina state House of Representatives and 14 years on the Charleston City Council.
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