A microphone in hand, Sen. Tim Scott left the podium at a recent barbecue event in South Carolina and made his way through tables draped in red, white and blue as attendees finished plates of pulled pork and baked beans.
As he talked about his campaign, Scott passed Casey DeSantis, the first lady of Florida, who looked ahead at the empty stage from which she would soon speak. She was there in place of her husband, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was overseeing the response to Hurricane Idalia.
Both in the state and nationally, Trump is far ahead in the Republican field. Battling for a distant second place are the two home-state candidates - Scott and Haley - and DeSantis. A July poll from Fox Business found that Scott, Haley and DeSantis each drew double digits, but Trump still led by more than 30 points.
“We’ve got a lot of good ones,” said Debra Donnan, a 52-year-old former postal worker from the city of Laurens. “I don’t exactly know. I’m just watching and learning.”“Don’t discount him,” she said of Scott. “He is a great American. He is very strong in his belief system, and he is not a wimpy person.”
He has done far fewer events overall and skipped the first presidential debate, a decision criticized by voters at other candidates’ events. But Trump remains the top political figure in the party and has kept a strong standing with Republicans, even as he faces four criminal indictments. Haley didn’t appear at the barbecue but instead packed an earlier event in Indian Land, a small community near Charlotte, North Carolina. She seemed to be in an especially good mood as she spoke, buoyed by her first debate performance, in which she sharply criticized rival Vivek Ramaswamy on foreign policy and pointedly noted on an otherwise all-male stage that “if you want something done, ask a woman.
“I think Tim Scott could be a good vice president, but he said he didn’t want to,” said retired engineer Huley Shumpert from Pelion.
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In the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican candidates search for a path against Donald TrumpSeveral campaigns are placing a huge emphasis on South Carolina, where the Republican primary is traditionally the last chance for many White House hopefuls to break through before Super Tuesday.
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In the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican candidates search for a path against Donald TrumpSeveral campaigns are placing a huge emphasis on South Carolina, where the Republican primary is traditionally the last chance for many White House hopefuls to break through before Super Tuesday
Read more »
In the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican candidates search for a path against Donald TrumpSeveral campaigns are placing a huge emphasis on South Carolina, where the Republican primary is traditionally the last chance for many White House hopefuls to break through before Super Tuesday
Read more »
In the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican candidates search for a path against Donald TrumpSeveral campaigns are placing a huge emphasis on South Carolina, where the Republican primary is traditionally the last chance for many White House hopefuls to break through before Super Tuesday.
Read more »