WASHINGTON (OSV News) — After Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., announced Nov. 12 that he is suspending his 2024 campaign for his party’s presidential nomination, Catholic political scientists told OSV News that the senator ran a campaign out of sync with the Republican primary electorate.
The timing of Scott’s announcement, which he made on Fox News’ “Sunday Night In America with Trey Gowdy,” came as a surprise to some observers, but it follows his struggle to gain traction in polls or stand out on a debate stage ahead of the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses in January.
“I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me: not now,” Scott told Gowdy, to the host’s apparent surprise.
“When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign,” Scott said. He also declined to endorse one of his rivals and indicated he is not interested in being selected as a running mate by the eventual nominee.
“Being vice president has never been on my to-do list,” he said.
Scott, who is the lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, launched his bid earlier this year and sought to cast himself as an optimist, and a new path forward for the GOP.
Robert Schmuhl, professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, who critically observes the modern American presidency, told OSV News that Scott’s “campaign message never resonated with the Republican electorate.”
“At a time of anger and conflict, he often spoke with an optimistic voice that didn’t connect in the current environment,” he said.
Schmuhl described Scott’s departure as another sign of the lead former President Donald Trump holds in the contest.
“At this point it’s difficult to see a viable alternative to former President Trump,” he said. “The Republican base is titanium strong for him — despite all of his legal troubles and upcoming trials. Will this change if he’s convicted? That’s this campaign’s great unknown.”
John White, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington, told OSV News that “if you go back to his (Scott’s) announcement speech, talking about being an optimist, kind of a ‘happy warrior’ if you will, that’s not what the Republicans want.”
White drew a contrast between Scott and Trump, who told voters he is their “retribution.”
Scott “was so totally out of sync with the primary electorate,” White said, adding that former Vice President Mike Pence, who also recently withdrew from the race, had a similar problem.
Asked if any of Scott’s former rivals in particular might benefit from his departure from the race, White quipped that two contenders from South Carolina were too many, and that former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is also a former governor of the Palmetto State, may attract former Scott supporters.
“The attention really focused on Haley after the most recent debate,” White said.
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