(Eli Pacheco, Headline USA) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. has suspended his presidential campaign.
Scott, a junior U.S. senator since 2013, announced his plans Sunday night in a live interview on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.
“When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate,” Scott told Gowdy, his longtime friend and one-time fellow South Carolina lawmaker.
“I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me: not now,” he added.
Scott, like most Republican candidates, failed to keep up with former President Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner, who leads the field by at least 40 points.
In a Monday morning tweet that included the clip from his interview with Gowdy, he thanked his supporters.
Tonight, I suspended my campaign for president.
Traveling this country and meeting all of you has been one of the most fantastic experiences of my entire life.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
God Bless the United States of America. pic.twitter.com/yniJWQMW1N
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) November 13, 2023
“Traveling this country and meeting all of you has been one of the most fantastic experiences of my entire life,” the post read. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you. God Bless the United States of America.”
Scott, the U.S. Senate’s only black Republican, campaigned with long-term optimism about America. A staunch conservative, Scott began his campaign in May. In announcing his run, Scott vowed to heal the nation’s political divide.
A child of a single mother, Scott said the Democratic party doesn’t make it easy for all to succeed.
Scott blamed President Joe Biden and the Democratic party for attacking “every rung of the ladder that helped me climb” during his campaign.
Nonetheless, he said America’s democratic principles had prevailed in spite of the roadblocks that some were determined to put in their way.
“We live in the land where it is absolutely possible for a kid raised in poverty in a single-parent household in a small apartment to one day serve in the people’s house and maybe even the White House,” Scott said as he announced his candidacy.
In addition to Trump, Scott’s departure leaves the GOP field with six other candidates: Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Another high-profile figure, former Vice President Mike Pence, ended his campaign in late October.
Scott, who some suggested had been running more to raise his profile as a prospective vice-presidential candidate, said he did not plan to endorse any of the other candidates in the running, NBC News reported.
The Associated Press reported that Scott’s staff didn’t know about his announcement beforehand. It cited a campaign worker who said they learned of the news by watching Gowdy’s show.
