Tim Scott: South Carolina’s Wild Card

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The evolution of U.S. senator Tim Scott on the national stage has been an interesting phenomenon to observe – and to assess (or try to assess). In 2016, Scott and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley were part of a #NeverTrump coalition that tried – and failed – to keep Donald Trump from securing the GOP presidential nomination that year.

With the MSM cheerleading, Scott and Haley went “all in” that year for U.S. senator Marco Rubio of Florida – who was subsequently shellacked in the Palmetto State by Trump (not unlike Haley was shellacked eight years later).

This year, Scott ran against Trump in the Republican presidential primary – only to enthusiastically embrace his candidacy (and the MAGA movement) after dropping out of the race. In fact, many have expressed amazement at how Scott’s energy on behalf of the 45th president in recent months seemed to outpace the energy he showed on behalf of his own candidacy.

“Had he campaigned half as hard for himself as he campaigned for Trump – he might not have had to campaign for Trump,” one Palmetto politico noted.

As for Haley? Following her defeat she basically took her marbles and went home…

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While Scott’s boundlessly ebullient cheerleading for Trump was widely perceived as a play for the vice presidential nomination – or a top spot in a second Trump administration – those assessments presumed Scott to be your typical upwardly mobile politician (like Haley) whose only navigational aid is his own ambition.

Those close to Scott – an incredibly small circle, by the way – know he is unconventionally motivated.

Scott’s North Star has never been about him, they say – it’s always been about his Christian faith working through him. It’s also about his origin story – his rise to prominence as the child of a single mother who spent fifty years working as a nurse in the Lowcountry.

“My mother working those 16-hour days as a nurse’s aide… cleaning bedpans,” Scott told Fox News last fall, referring to his mother, Frances Scott.

According to Scott, his mother is “one of the most powerful examples of the dignity of work, that sacrifice pays off.”

“She didn’t sacrifice her life,” Scott said. “She invested her life in her two kids and she invested her life for her two kids in such a way that we received this harvest of opportunity, this harvest of work ethic. This harvest of being gracious and gratitude that came out of her example.”

Unconventionally motivated, Scott now has a new constituency of one – his wife, Mindy Noce.

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The happy couple were married last month in Charleston, S.C., consummating a rare “love match” in a political climate dominated by relationship opportunism – and filled to the brim with bitter cynicism from rivals who presume such opportunism drives all things (including Haley’s son, Nalin Haley).

Noce is now at the very center of the small circle Scott keeps…

While Scott’s list of confidants may be short, his options for the future are – in the immortal words of Tom Petty – “wide open.”

In no particular order, Scott has been listed as a future contender for president (again), U.S. Senate (again), governor of South Carolina or as a potential cabinet appointment in a second Trump administration, assuming the former president wins another term. There are also rumors Scott is eyeing a future in the business arena – and there is an oddly persistent rumor that he plans on leaving politics and business altogether to found a church.

No one seems to know what Scott is going to do… although there are plenty who think they know when he is going to do it.

Multiple sources in our nation’s capital have told this media outlet Scott is contemplating a departure from the U.S. Senate in 2025 – no matter what happens in the November election. So convinced of his impending departure are some of Scott’s would-be rivals that they have begun jockeying for position in the event it transpires sooner rather than later. However, like every other Scott rumor, this one has been impossible to confirm – and in what would appear to be a rejection of the theory, Scott reportedly told a group of Republicans earlier this summer he could conceivably run for his Senate seat again in 2028 (even though he previously said his 2022 campaign would be his last).

Keeping those options open, right?

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Scott ascended to the Senate on January 2, 2013 – filling the seat vacated by former senator Jim DeMint. He was originally appointed to his post by then-governor Haley, who has since become a bitter rival after Scott endorsed Trump (instead of her) upon leaving the 2024 presidential race.

Haley’s rage in the aftermath of that decision has been “white hot,” according to those familiar with it.

Prior to his Senate appointment, Scott spent two years in the U.S. House, two years in the S.C. House and fourteen years on Charleston County council – where in 1995 he became the first black Republican elected to any office in the Palmetto State since Reconstruction.

Scott won a special election in 2014 to fill the final two years of DeMint’s term and was reelected to full six-year terms in 2016 and 2022 – meaning he’s been in the Senate for nearly twelve years and has more than four years to go (assuming he stays).

What does Scott want to do? That is the one question that appears easy enough to answer…

“He wants to be president,” a source close to the senator told us.

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Scott would whisper this ambition over and over to himself as a young man laying in bed awake at night, he once confided in a friend, reportedly telling himself “I’m going to do it – I am going to run for president.”

The dream has never left him, although unlike nearly all who harbor such lofty aspirations, the 58-year-old North Charleston native actually has an outside chance of achieving it. Which, given his humble origins and all he endured to overcome them, is nothing short of providential.

While Scott’s timing for another presidential bid – to say nothing of his potential path to the White House – remains unclear at the moment, there is one thing few who follow South Carolina politics would deny.

What’s that? The fact Scott’s upcoming decisions will impact the decisions of dozens of other Palmetto politicians – which, in turn, will shape the landscape of the SCGOP for potentially decades to come. He is, quite simply, the “primum mobile” – or “first mover” – in at least two upcoming election cycles, the central and most important source of motion in South Carolina’s political universe. In fact, Scott’s decision on a potential 2026 gubernatorial bid is one of the most eagerly anticipated announcements – or non-announcements – we’ve ever covered.

What will Scott do? So far, all that’s certain is he continues to play that decision – and those which may follow from it – incredibly close to the vest.

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This election season, be sure you Prep for the Polls by checking your voter registration information, polling location and sample ballot at scVOTES.gov. The State Election Commission does not have editorial review or approval of any political coverage; any content posted by FITSNews does not reflect the opinion of the State Election Commission.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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