Tim Scott drops out of the 2024 presidential race

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced Sunday evening that he’s dropping out of the 2024 Republican presidential marketing campaign, surprising a TV interviewer and even his personal marketing campaign employees with an abrupt departure from the race.

“Once I return to Iowa, it won’t be as a presidential candidate. I’m suspending my marketing campaign,” Scott mentioned in an look on former GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy’s Fox Information program.

“I believe the voters, who’re essentially the most exceptional individuals on the planet, have been actually clear that they’re telling me: not now,” Scott continued.

The announcement was a shock: Gowdy, a former colleague of Scott’s within the Home of Representatives, appeared to do a double-take as he made his assertion. A number of Scott staffers advised NBC Information they received no warning he was ending the marketing campaign, discovering out solely by watching him say so on TV.

Scott’s marketing campaign even despatched out a fundraising e mail not lengthy earlier than he introduced he was leaving the race. “We wish to offer you ONE LAST CHANCE to donate this weekend and assist Tim attain his marketing campaign objective. Are you able to chip in to assist Tim win?” the marketing campaign wrote.

His choice comes amid efforts to consolidate the GOP opposition to former President Donald Trump, who has huge leads in main polls, together with within the first caucus state, Iowa. Scott took 7% assist there within the October NBC Information/Des Moines Register/Mediacom ballot, placing him in fourth place.

Scott’s dropout additionally comes days after the third Republican presidential debate in Miami, after which he canceled a scheduled weekend marketing campaign swing in Iowa, citing the flu.

Scott began the 2024 marketing campaign comparatively little-known in comparison with a few of his opponents. His marketing campaign and an allied tremendous PAC spent almost $25 million on advertisements in Iowa and different early states selling him as an optimistic conservative, in line with AdImpact, an ad-tracking service. Scott noticed an uptick in early-state polls quickly by way of the summer time.

However cash began to develop tight main as much as Sunday’s dropout, in line with a supply acquainted with the marketing campaign. Scott by no means caught fireplace within the GOP debates. And his ballot numbers stagnated as an in-state rival caught consideration. He’s dropping out of the race simply as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has pulled into second place in early-state main polls.

Haley, who appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012, praised him on X, the social media platform. “Tim Scott is an efficient man of religion and an inspiration to so many. The Republican main was made higher by his participation in it. South Carolina is blessed to proceed to have him as our senator,” she wrote.

Final month, Scott’s tremendous PAC canceled tens of millions of {dollars} in deliberate fall promoting, saying the Republican voters wasn’t “targeted or prepared for a Trump different.”

“There comes a degree when it’s clear that there isn’t going to be a breakthrough second, and one was actually wanted given the place he stood within the subject,” a Scott marketing campaign staffer mentioned. The staffer praised Scott’s message and private favorability numbers, “however they by no means translated into assist, and that’s simply the fact of what it takes to win — and in the event you don’t have a path, it’s time to assist consolidate to beat Trump.”

Whereas Scott’s voters are actually going to have to search out one other candidate, he indicated within the interview with Gowdy that he wasn’t seeking to endorse one in every of his former rivals right now.

“I’m going to suggest that the voters research every candidate and their candidacies and, frankly, their previous and decide for the way forward for the nation,” he mentioned. “One of the best ways for me to be useful is to not weigh in on who they need to endorse.”

And Scott appeared uninterested within the thought of turning into a candidate for vp afterward within the marketing campaign. “Vp has by no means been on my to-do listing for this marketing campaign, and it’s actually not there now,” he advised Gowdy.

Scott is leaving the race after one other well-known candidate dropped out. Former Vice President Mike Pence suspended his marketing campaign in late October, because the Republican presidential subject winnows down.

A number of of Scott’s former 2024 rivals reacted to the information on social media.

“Tim Scott is a powerful conservative with daring concepts about the way to get our nation again on monitor. I respect his braveness to run this marketing campaign and thank him for his service to America and the U.S. Senate. I stay up for Tim persevering with to be a pacesetter in our social gathering for years to come back,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X.

Vivek Ramaswamy praised Scott as a “good dude” earlier than referring to an interplay the 2 had onstage ultimately week’s Republican debate (and taking a dig at Haley).

“I gave @SenatorTimScott a congratulatory [gold fist bump emoji] on stage when the opposite South Carolinian shamelessly copied *precisely* what he mentioned,” Ramaswamy posted on X. “Wishing Tim all the very best again within the U.S. Senate.”