Republican senator Tim Scott (S.C.) announced the launch of an exploratory committee for a presidential run, setting himself up to be the fifth declared 2024 Republican candidate.
"I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional," Scott said in a video posted Wednesday showing him walking through Fort Sumter on the anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.
"Our country is once again being tested," Scott said, pointing to President Joe Biden and his party’s "weaponiz[ing]" of "race" and messaging that "we live in an evil country."
Scott focused on race, saying Democrats use it to "divide us" and that they called him a "token" and "prop" for being a black Republican, the only one in the U.S. Senate.
The senator highlighted school choice in the announcement, an issue he’s advocated in the Senate for years. He cosponsored a bill to expand school choice for military families in 2018 and has since re-introduced it.
Scott would join fellow South Carolinian and former governor Nikki Haley in the Republican race, along with former president Donald Trump, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Scott faces a difficult path in the Republican primary, which is largely a two-man race between Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet declared a candidacy, according to polls. The latest poll from Morning Consult shows Trump winning the support of 56 percent of likely Republican voters, DeSantis at 23 percent, and the rest all in the single digits— with Scott pulling 1 percent.
Scott didn’t mention his primary rivals in the announcement, instead focusing on Biden, who he said has "chosen a culture of grievance over greatness."
More campaign announcements are likely, potentially from DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence, and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.