CNN
For Republicans looking to move their party beyond Donald Trump and expand its reach, Tim Scott would seem to be the perfect candidate for president in 2024.
Scott is the first Black senator elected from the Deep South since Reconstruction and the first Black Republican to serve in the Senate since 1979. And he has carved out a role in the Senate as a conservative, yes, but also someone willing to work with Democrats — as he did on the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to pass police reform legislation earlier this year.
He looks and talks in ways radically different from those of Donald Trump. (Scott’s typical introduction: “I am a Christian who is a conservative and you may have noticed that I’m Black.”) And he has been critical of Trump, particularly on matters of race; Scott said Trump’s response to the White nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 caused the then-President to compromise his “moral authority.”
Except … Tim Scott isn’t running for president in 2024. Or, at least, he’s not running for president if Trump decides to run again.
“Of course,” Scott told the Post and Courier of South Carolina when asked about whether he would support Trump in 2024. Asked about his own interest in the 2024 race, Scott noted that he is running for reelection in 2022 (he is a heavy favorite), adding: “Well, at this point, I’m not running for president at all. I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question.”
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