Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) will endorse Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) 2024 presidential bid when he formally launches his campaign on Monday, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, will be in attendance at Scott’s Monday rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, where the 57-year-old senator grew up and will kick-off his 2024 campaign from, a source familiar with his plans confirms to the Washington Examiner. The top GOP senator will deliver the opening prayer and may make other remarks at the event, though nothing beyond his attendance and endorsement have been made official.
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Scott launched a presidential exploratory committee in April while visiting early voting states, and filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission for his White House bid on Friday. By making it official on Monday, Scott enters a field dominated by former President Donald Trump. Scott is far from the only member of the Senate with presidential ambitions, though many on both sides of the aisle opted not to run this cycle as Trump and President Joe Biden maintain steady leads with their respective primary electorates.
Thune, an ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has soured on Trump in recent years. Their relationship deteriorated significantly as Trump refused to concede his 2020 election loss, and was worsened further by the former president’s role in the 2022 midterms. Many in the Senate GOP conference, Thune and McConnell included, hold Trump responsible for preventing Republicans from retaking the majority in the upper chamber.
While he avoids being a vocal Trump critic, Thune has said he believes the GOP should not choose the former president as their 2024 nominee. Thune admitted to CNN in March that he was pushing Scott to enter the presidential primary, saying, “I’m excited about it. I’ve been encouraging him. I think he’s getting a lot of encouragement from his colleagues. … I think he’d be a really interesting candidate for president in a field that, you know, kind of could be fairly open.”
Thune was right. Scott is not entering a two-man race against the former president.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is expected to file paperwork with the FEC this week, ending months of speculation about his candidacy. Despite being beset by plummeting poll numbers since Trump’s Manhattan indictment in late March, DeSantis has maintained his status as the former president’s top competitor. Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), who appointed Scott to his Senate seat in 2012 after he won a competitive 2010 congressional contest, entered the race in February. Scott and Haley are political allies who have thus far avoided trading barbs in the 2024 contest.
Other declared candidates include former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and conservative talk radio host Larry Elder.
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Despite the crowded field, Scott has a significant cash-on-hand advantage, with $22 million in the bank. He has also already launched a $6 million TV advertising blitz that will run statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two GOP nominating contests, through the party’s first presidential debate in August. It’s an impressive show of force in a contest where money matters as much as polling.
Once he declares on Monday, he and Trump will be the only candidates in the race with any Senate endorsements. Scott also has the backing of Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thune’s home-state colleague. Trump, meanwhile, has 11 endorsements from Senate Republicans.
