MIAMI — Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) received the most speaking time during the third 2024 Republican primary debate, but what really set tongues wagging Wednesday night in Miami was the appearance of a mysterious woman by his side at the end of the broadcast.
But despite bringing the blonde on the debate stage for a photo, the senator is still playing his relationship card close to his chest.
REPUBLICAN DEBATE: RON DESANTIS FIGHTS ON HOME TURF TO HOLD OFF NIKKI HALEY THREAT
A campaign spokesman confirmed the woman is Scott’s girlfriend and her name is Mindy, but declined to provide more details, including her last name. The spokesman said he would prefer to let the senator reveal that information in his own time. The woman was identified as Mindy Noce, a Charleston-area interior designer and mother of three.
Scott, 58, who has never been married, declined to answer shouted questions from the Washington Examiner about Mindy, including why it was important to him to go public with their relationship now, but he told other reporters they have been dating for “about a year or so.”
Scott’s relationship status was explored in a Washington Post expose last September, in which the senator told reporter Ben Terris she took part in Bible study and pickleball matches with him. Terris wrote he found no evidence that “she exists.” Scott went on to tell an Iowa evangelical forum later that week he was dating “a lovely Christian girl.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“One of the things I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ is it points us always in the right direction. Proverbs 18:22 says, ‘He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord,’” Scott said.
“As a guy who was raised in a single-parent household mired in poverty, I understand the devastation when a family breaks up,” he added. “I had to live with the consequences of a father who was not there. I made a commitment to make sure that never happened in my life.”
