Washington, United States

United States Senator and Republican White House hopeful Tim Scott abruptly ended his run for the 2024 presidential election nomination on Sunday (Nov 12), amid reports of spending campaign cash at a blistering rate without making significant progress in the national opinion polls. 

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The development also took Scott’s donors and campaign staff by surprise as it comes just months ahead of the beginning of the voting in Iowa’s leadoff GOP caucuses. The caucuses typically kick off the Republican selection process for a nominee and unlike primary elections, are contests planned, financed and carried out by the parties as opposed to the state officials. 

‘Not now Tim’

The announcement was made on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America” with Trey Gowdy where the South Carolina senator said, “But when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign. I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me: ‘Not now Tim.’”

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The lone Black Republican in the US Senate, who began his campaign in May had promised to present an optimistic, forward-looking vision for America. However, he has so far failed to establish himself in recent debates as well as has had trouble gaining traction in the polls, despite millions spent on his behalf by high-profile donors.

Notably, Scott is backed by many major donors partly because they believe that he would have a high chance of beating Democratic President Joe Biden, that is if he were to emerge as the Republican nominee. 

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During the interview, Scott said he wouldn’t immediately be endorsing any of his remaining Republican rivals. “The voters are really smart,” said the South Carolina senator, adding that “The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in on who they should endorse.”

He also ruled out serving as the vice president since the number 2 slot “has never been on my to-do list for this campaign, and it’s certainly not there now.” 

Surprise announcement

Scott dropped out of the presidential race so abruptly that one of his campaign workers told The Associated Press that his campaign staff found out about the news by watching the show. 

ALSO READ | Republican’s lone Black senator Tim Scott enters 2024 US presidential bid

According to the report, just 13 minutes before he announced his departure, his campaign sent out an email soliciting supporters for donations to further Scott’s “strong leadership and optimistic, positive vision to lead our country forward.”

The campaign staffers also expressed their extreme irritation to the AP after Scott recently shifted staff and money from New Hampshire to Iowa in an effort to boost his standing in the leadoff caucus, only to completely reverse the move after they worked around the clock to make it happen. 

Meanwhile, two major donors to his campaign told Reuters they would switch their support to former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Scott is the second major Republican to drop out of the race after former VP Mike Pence also suspended his campaign two weeks ago. 

(With inputs from agencies)