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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC/AP) - As Sen. Tim Scott (R - South Carolina) continued his Faith in America tour, he also continued to tease a possible 2024 White House run.
During a Sunday afternoon town hall in downtown Charleston, Scott said he will have a decision on his presidential campaign on May 22.
The senator, who previously announced he was forming a presidential exploratory committee to gauge the possibility of running for president in 2024, has been touring multiple states with his Faith in America tour.
“It is time to take the Faith in America not just on the road, not just to an exploratory committee, but on May 22 in North Charleston, South Carolina, it is time to make the final step,” Scott said. “...We will have a major announcement, and you are going to wanna be there.”
The 57-year-old touched on several topics, including China, inflation and education.
“Our kids are being indoctrinated and not educated,” Scott said. “It is time for a change. We need school choice in the hands of every single parent in the nation. We need parents deciding where their kids go to school.”
He also said he supports tightening border security, cutting taxes and increasing military spending. The senator also criticized the Biden administration’s policies throughout the event, such as the Inflation Reduction Act.
“There’s a delusion in this administration that they believe that the way you cure problems is to create more problems and that you have to create more solutions that you take credit for to solve those problems that you created,” he said.
Scott has been inching ever closer to formally entering the GOP nomination race, where he would join other announced candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and “anti-woke” biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Another of those is Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor who appointed Scott in 2012 to the Senate, where he is the sole Black Republican. Haley hasn’t commented on Scott’s potential entry into the race, while Scott has dismissed suggestions of any awkwardness in running against the former governor who appointed him to his Senate seat.
The town hall was held at Meeting Street Academy part of a charter school network founded by one of Scott’s top donors, Charleston philanthropist Ben Navarro. Scott was introduced by South Carolina businessman and longtime supporter Mike Johnson, who is serving as a national finance co-chair for Scott, and a day after the planned May 22 announcement is hosting a day-long “call day and retreat” with Scott supporters.
The full town hall is embedded below:
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