Sen. Tim Scott explains endorsement of former President Trump
Scott told Fox News during a Trump 2024 presidential primary rally in New Hampshire on Friday night that now is the time for Republicans to unite and get behind Trump and fire Joe Biden.
CONCORD, N.H. - Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina endorsed former President Trump in the 2024 Republican nomination race on Friday.
Scott, who in November ended his own run for the White House, announced his support for Trump alongside the former president at a rally Friday evening in Concord, New Hampshire.
"We need, you see, we need a president who doesn't see Black or White. We need a president who sees Americans as one American family," Scott said. "And that's why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of these United States, President Donald Trump."
Following the rally, Scott said in a Fox News interview that "it's time for us to unite our party so that we make sure that the only target we're talking about is firing Joe Biden. Our country can't take four more years. I'm not sure we could take ten more months. The best way for us to get rid of Joe Biden as our president is to unite our party now behind Donald Trump."
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Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens at a campaign event in Concord, N.H., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Both Trump, who's the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race, and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called the senator in recent days as they both tried to secure Scott's endorsement, sources confirm.
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Scott told Fox News that "she texted. I responded. We talked on the phone, texted again. I responded."
While Scott's presidential campaign failed to ignite, he remains very popular with Republican primary voters and his endorsement has been heavily coveted by the remaining GOP candidates.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is interviewed by Fox News Digital in the spin room following the third GOP presidential nomination debate in Miami on Nov. 8, 2023. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
As Scott ended his presidential bid, he made clear that he had no immediate plans to support another candidate. But sources in his political orbit told Fox News at the time that the senator remained open to backing a candidate.
Scott's backing of Trump, whom the senator rarely criticized on the campaign trail during his White House run, is the latest major endorsement for the former president in the state that holds the first Southern primary in the GOP nomination race.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have long supported Trump.
The state's Feb. 24 Republican presidential primary is the next major contest in the Republican schedule following Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. The contest is winner-take-all, which means the victor in the Palmetto State will capture all 50 Republican delegates at stake.
Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, launched his presidential campaign in May at an event in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., hugs his mother, Frances Scott, as he announces his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at a campaign event in North Charleston, S.C., on May 22, 2023. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
Standing just a few miles from where he grew up, Scott highlighted that "we live in the land where it is possible for a kid raised in poverty by a single mother in a small apartment to one day serve in the People’s House and maybe even the White House."
The senator told Fox News at the time he was "stunned at the hunger for something positive as long as its anchored in conservatism. As long as you have a backbone."
But his positive and uplifting message failed to resonate in a combative GOP presidential nomination race dominated by Trump, who often spotlights his grievances during his third consecutive run for the White House.
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By late autumn, Scott was struggling to qualify for the debates and his poll numbers were stuck in the single digits.
On Nov. 12, Scott announced he was ending his White House bid during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Night in America" with Trey Gowdy.
"I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim,’" Scott said.
Ffrom left: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., stand onstage before the third Republican presidential primary debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami on Nov. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Haley and Scott share a long political history. They both served together in the state legislature and in 2012, then-Gov. Haley appointed then-Rep. Scott to the Senate to fill a vacancy.
Fox News' Jessica Loker contributed to this report
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