Tim Scott to launch presidential exploratory committee, sources say

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is set to launch an exploratory committee on Wednesday for a potential 2024 presidential bid, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.

In an email sent out to supporters late Tuesday night, the Republican senator said that he would “make a major announcement tomorrow.”

The news was first reported by The Post and Courier of Charleston.

Scott was scheduled to travel to Iowa Wednesday for the announcement, sources said. Back in February, the 57-year-old made several stops in Iowa, which will serve as the first-in-the-nation contest in the 2024 Republican primaries.

Senator Tim Scott, a ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2023.

Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Only former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have declared their 2024 candidacy so far on the Republican side.

When addressing reporters during his last Iowa tour, Scott deflected questions regarding whether he had indicated to Trump that he would run.

“We have had some texts, but the truth of the matter, we’re not talking about politics, we’re talking about the issues that are important overall,” Scott said at the time.

Scott, who has served in the Senate since 2013 and is its only Black Republican, appears to be attempting to position himself as an alternative to Trump by emphasizing a more positive message.

“I see a future where common sense has rebuilt common ground,” Scott said in a speech in February at Drake University in Des Moines, according to the Des Moines Register. “Where we’ve created real unity, not by compromising away our conservatism, but by winning converts. Where our movement can once again carry 49 states and the popular vote.”