Global Courant 2023-05-07 16:00:00
WASHINGTON — Ask almost any Senate Republican and they’ll tell you they love Tim Scott. They’re just not ready to support him as president.
As the popular South Carolina Republican prepares to become the first — and likely only — GOP senator to make a presidential bid in 2024, Senate colleagues praise Scott as “great,” “frontline” and “engaging,” and all of that tiptoe around whether they will support his candidacy.
“He’s extremely smart, knowledgeable and inspiring,” said Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, who worked with Scott on the Aging Committee. “I think Tim is one of the strongest candidates. I would also put Nikki Haley, possibly Glenn Youngkin and Chris Christie in that category. I think we are blessed with a lot of good people. … I am not endorsing anyone at this point; I think it’s way too early. But I’m a big fan of Tim Scott.”
“I am a big fan of Tim. He’s a good friend of mine,” added Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Donald Trump’s runner-up in the 2016 presidential primaries. “I am staying out of the race and I am confident that the voters will decide and make the choice. And I look forward to enthusiastically supporting the Republican nominee in 2024.”
Scott supported and campaigned with Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., during the busy 2016 presidential primary. Asked if he will return the favor in 2024, Rubio, another “big fan,” objected.
“Well, we’ll see. I get to enter the presidential race. I’m nowhere near making that decision,” Rubio said, noting that two leading candidates — Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis — are from his home state. “I have two people with residence in my state walking. They’ve both done a good job in the jobs they’ve had, so we’ll get to that bridge at some point.
Even colleagues outside his party are talking about Scott. At a recent private fundraiser in Los Angeles, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the independent-turned-Democrat, was asked by a donor to judge the 2024 race.
“The country deserves better than a rematch between Biden and Trump,” Sinema replied, according to two sources who attended the dinner at the home of Crescent Capital Group co-founder Jean-Marc Chapus.
Sinema went on to tell guests that Scott was “a great Republican presidential candidate because he’s a man of integrity and honor,” the sources said, adding that Scott represents what the GOP hasn’t had in a presidential candidate since before Trump arrived. in place.
However, her comments were not an endorsement from Scott, the sources said. A spokesman for Sinema had no comment.
When approached about his official campaign launch, the 57-year-old Scott replied with one word: “Soon.” The senator recently said he will make a “major announcement” on May 22 in North Charleston, South Carolina, weeks after announcing an exploratory bid for the presidency.
Senator John Boozman, R-Ark., who was endorsed by Trump in his 2022 reelection bid, is staying away from the primary. He called Scott “an important candidate” and a “person of integrity”, but said he is now focusing on “how we can get a farm bill”. In addition, there is another “capable” person in the race, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Boozman said.
In any other presidential cycle, Scott would have been one of many senators to throw his hat in the ring. But more than half a dozen of his hyper-ambitious GOP Senate colleagues said no to a 2024 bid after Trump — the former president who remains the most powerful figure in the party — announced he would seek a rematch with President Joe Biden next year.
Trump’s dominance in the polls and the approval game is one of the reasons why so many of Scott’s colleagues either join the Trump campaign or sit on the sidelines.
Trump has received the support of nearly 50 House members and 10 Senators, according to an NBC News tally, compared to three House approvals and zero Senate approvals for DeSantis. Haley, the former governor of Scott’s home state of South Carolina, has been supported by one legislator: Rep. Ralph Norman, R.S.C.
Unlike the Democratic Party, congressional statements of support for Republicans do not count in the race for delegates. But in a crowded field, approvals from legislators can signal momentum and the popularity of a candidate from certain parts of the country.
“Tim is a good guy,” said freshman Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., wishing him “good luck” with his bid. “We broke bread together and we ate a lot together. He gave me the best advice when I got here: ‘You’ll know you’re a senator when your mouth is moving and you have nothing else to say.'”
But Mullin, who received Trump on a NCAA wrestling match in Tulsa this year, argued that Trump is the best candidate to lead the party: “Trump is a friend of mine … and when we get out of this disastrous four years of Biden, we need someone who is a proven leader . ”
But for those ready to turn the page on Trump, Scott could ultimately prove to be a strong alternative. In 2014, the former House member made history as the first black Republican elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction. And colleagues described Scott as an exceptional communicator, hard worker and detail-oriented legislator with an up-to-date personal story and a positive vision for the future that will play well on the campaign trail.
“He’s someone I’d be happy with if he became president of the United States,” Senator Mitt Romney, a two-time presidential candidate and the 2012 GOP nominee, said in a brief interview. “There are some people I feel that way about; he is certainly one of them.”
A handful of others who are still on friendly terms with Trump also felt comfortable saying they’d like to see a President Scott — though they didn’t get formal approval.
“He’s great and I think he’d make a great president” Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, the third Republican in charge in the Senate. “I think he would be great.”
“He’s top notch, that’s for sure. He’s smart, hardworking. He’s articulate. He’s cheerful. He’s just the best. He’s always some sort of source of healing when he’s around,” the senator said Kevin Cramer, RN.D., a Trump ally who has not yet agreed to the presidential race.
“I would absolutely consider supporting him. He has everything you look for in a leader.”
But when asked if Scott had what it takes to beat Trump, Cramer replied, “I don’t know. It’s hard to say and it’s hard to see.”
