Tim Scott sitting on $21 million war chest as Republican presidential nomination race heats up

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Sen. Tim Scott will debate other 2024 GOP candidates

Sen. Tim Scott tells ‘America Reports’ that the presidential debates are a ‘make or break moment’ for the Republican Party and discusses the ‘radical left’s’ claims about the bootstraps mentality.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination says they ended the second quarter of 2023 fundraising with over $21 million cash-on-hand in their coffers.

Scott's campaign, which shared its fundraising figures first with Fox News on Wednesday, reported bringing in $6.1 million during the second quarter, from April-June. 

TIM PAC – the super PAC supporting Scott's White House bid – in a separate announcement told Fox News that they hauled in $19.28 million in the second quarter and had over $15 million cash on hand at the end of June.

Scott's campaign highlighted that the vast majority of their fundraising came in the six weeks since the senator formally declared his candidacy on May 22. The only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP officially launched his presidential campaign at Charleston Southern University – his alma mater – in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina.

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Tim Scott announces his candidacy for president at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

Scott's aides noted after the campaign launch that the senator, who’s known as one of the top fundraisers on Capitol Hill, hauled in $2 million in the first 24 hours after declaring his candidacy for the White House.

The campaign said on Wednesday that the vast majority of the funds raised are solely for use in the GOP presidential primary campaign.

"There is one candidate who has shown steady, upward momentum from the moment he entered this race and who has the resources and strategy to execute in the months ahead. He is the strongest messenger in the field with the most consistent conservative record to match," Scott campaign manager Jennifer DeCasper wrote in a memo detailing the fundraising figures. 

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DeCasper spotlighted in her memo that "we can also proudly confirm Tim will be on the debate stage for months to come thanks to over 145,000 donations from over 53,000 unique donors across all 50 states."

Sen. Tim Scott attends the Independence Day parade in Merrimack, New Hampshire, on July 4, 2023. (Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Republican National Committee has set 40,000 individual contributions as one of its thresholds for candidates to make the stage at the first GOP presidential nomination debate. The showdown will be hosted by Fox News and held in Milwaukee on Aug. 23. The donor thresholds rise each month for the ensuing Republican presidential primary debates.

Scott, who's been spotlighting an uplifting conservative message as he seeks the GOP nomination, is currently in the single digits in the latest Republican presidential primary polls. 

TIM PAC is supporting Scott with an ongoing $7.25 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire – the states that vote first and second in the GOP nominating calendar – that the super PAC launched in late May as the senator entered the race. 

"We've seen tremendous enthusiasm for Tim since he launched his campaign and he's well positioned to make the case against Joe Biden and the failed Democrat agenda," TIM PAC co-chair and former Sen. Cory Gardner said in a statement. "His conservative values and message focused on all that is good in America resonates well among Republican voters across the early primary states. TIM PAC will have all the resources necessary to make sure that support continues to grow."

Former President Donald Trump, who's making his third straight White House run, is the commanding front-runner in the GOP surveys.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to crowd during a campaign event on July 1, 2023, in Pickens, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Trump’s team said last week that the former president’s campaign and Save America, his political action committee, combined raised $35 million the past three months. Trump’s massive haul appears to be an indicator that the former president's mounting legal troubles have helped fuel his 2024 White House campaign. 

During the second quarter of fundraising this year, Trump become the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime, as he was indicted and arraigned in New York City by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in April and again in June in federal court in Miami.

As Fox News first reported on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reported raising $20 million from his presidential campaign launch in late May through the end of June. And Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting the Florida governor's presidential run, in a separate announcement told Fox News that they hauled in $130 million in fundraising since the committee launched in early March.

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at the Moms for Liberty's summit in Philadelphia on June 30, 2023. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

DeSantis is second in the latest polls, trailing Trump by double digits but ahead of Scott and the rest of large field of contenders, who are all in the single digits.

Nikki Haley’s Republican presidential campaign and two aligned political committees brought in $7.3 million during the April-June second quarter of 2023 fundraising, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The figures from the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration were shared first with Fox News on Monday.

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Candidates have until July 15 to file reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric to gauge a candidate's popularity and a campaign's strength. The money raised can be used for travel, ads and to build voter outreach efforts.