Flush with campaign money, Tim Scott is ready to compete in ’24 Race

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott will announce his candidacy for president on Monday and will enter the race with about $22 million in cash, making him one of the most serious contenders for the frontrunner, Donald J. Trump, even if Mr. Scott has fluctuated around 2 percent in Republican primaries.

After announcing his campaign in his hometown of North Charleston, Mr. Scott going to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in the Republican nominating contest. According to an adviser with direct knowledge of Mr. Scott’s plans, Mr. Scott’s campaign has earmarked approximately $6 million in television and radio advertising in those states. The Scott campaign also plans to spend millions of dollars on digital ads targeting voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that will run through the first Republican primary debate, scheduled for August.

Mr. Scott, the most influential elected black conservative in America, has a compelling life story upon which to build his campaign. He portrays his rise from poverty to become the first black senator from South Carolina and the only black Republican in the senate as an embodiment of the American dream.

Mr. Scott rarely directly criticizes Mr. Trump, but his message couldn’t be more different from the former president’s. While Mr. Trump speaks ominously of “retaliation”—his pledge to undermine the civil service and law enforcement agencies he pejoratively refers to as the “deep state”—Mr. Scott prefers the sunny language of Ronald Reagan.

“Americans are losing one of the most inspiring truths we have, which is hope – hope that things can and will get better, hope that education and hard work can equate to prosperity, hope that we remain a city on a hill, a shining example of what can be when free people decide to join hands in self-government,” said Mr. Scott in one speech last year in the Reagan Library on the Future of the Republican Party.

“America is at a crossroads,” he said, “with the potential for a great reset, a renewal, even a rebirth — where we can choose how we will fulfill today’s potential and tomorrow’s promise.”

There is little evidence to date that Mr. Scott’s message strikes a chord with the populist base of the modern GOP, led in recent years by a former TV star who loves to fight. For years, the Republican base has fed on apocalyptic gossip that often portrays Democrats as enemies bent on destroying America. In a party dominated by Mr Trump’s message:American carnage”, can the speech of Mr. Scott on the importance of “unity,” “hope,” and “redemption” sound like a message from another time.

Mr. Scott’s campaign will have to weigh his inherently optimistic message against the brutal realities of Republican primary politics.

“We will remain true to Mr. Scott’s optimistic view, but we are also not afraid to draw contrasts where necessary,” said the consultant with knowledge of Mr. Scott’s plans.

Mr. Scott will have more than enough money to find out if there’s a bigger market for his ideas than the polls suggest. His support for pro-business policies has made him a favorite of the Republican donor class, and he has billionaires like Oracle founder Larry Ellison — who aligned with Mr. Trump when he was in the White House — who are willing to donate millions. put dollars behind his campaign.