South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott is reportedly shifting strategy in his faltering White House bid — ramping up appearances on a wider range of outlets other than those that target conservative viewers.
According to Politico, Scott’s longtime friend and former colleague in the Senate, Cory Gardner, persuaded him to reach out to a wider audience than just voters tuning in to conservative press, including Fox News, where Scott has regularly appeared.
Over the past two weeks, Scott appeared eight times on CNN, CBS, ABC, and CNBC after spending a summer engaging almost exclusively with the conservative press, Politico reported.
Scott is stuck below 2% in national polls, according to Real Clear Politics. And on Saturday Scott’s hometown newspaper called for the Republican field to coalesce around rival South Carolinian Nikki Haley, to take on Donald Trump directly.
“In talking to people here at home, what they have told me is that it’s unfortunate that the Tim that they know in South Carolina is not the Tim that people may be perceiving in Iowa and New Hampshire and other states,” Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina GOP governor and House lawmaker who was at a Scott’s May campaign launch, told Politico.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has praised Scott as a “spokesman” for the “Reagan, hopeful, optimistic message,” conceded he's "disappointed," the outlet reported, adding: “At some point, there’s going to have to be consolidation when the outcome is inevitable."
Despite initial enthusiasm among Scott supporters, including Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, at the first debate among GOP contenders Scott spoke less than most of the other candidates and seemed to disappear for long stretches, Politico noted.
His super PAC recently announced it was canceling millions of dollars in fall advertising. according to the outlet.
And Scott has yet to qualify for the third Republican debate, though he’s on track to do so, Politico reported. Scott still must cross the Republican National Committee’s 70,000-donor threshold before the Nov. 6 deadline.
“Tim Scott will be on the debate stage in Miami,” Nathan Brand, campaign spokesperson told Politico. “The campaign is on track to meet the donor requirements.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. — who endorsed Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign but has remained complimentary of his home state colleague’s own presidential bid — told Politico Scott has “a good message.” Then he added: “You’ve got to translate that into support. Trump drowns out everybody.”
From mid-July to early August, Scott went three weeks without a single national television hit, while making a handful of appearances on local radio, TV and podcasts. After an early June interview on “The View” — and as Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley were being booked on networks like CNN and NBC — Scott didn’t appear on any mainstream news shows until mid-September, when he went on the business show “Squawk Box” on CNBC.
The senator’s team “fundamentally miscalculated what it means to run for president and generate news coverage,” one unnamed Scott supporter told Politico.
But Gardner noted: “The more voters hear from Tim the more likely they are to become reliable supporters."
“He’s the most favorably viewed candidate in this race because people want to feel good about America again and they believe Tim can bring that change," he told Politico.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.