WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he helps raise money for former President Trump, Sen. Tim Scott says he’s got a message that he’s emphasizing as he meets with top Republican donors.
“It is in the best interest of the United States of America to have four more years of President Donald Trump. It is in the best interest of our economy to have four more years of Donald Trump,” Scott said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Scott, who was one of roughly a dozen Republican candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before ending his White House bid late last year, endorsed the former president in January.
The conservative senator from South Carolina over the past few months has become a top Trump surrogate and is considered to be among a small group of contenders being considered as Trump’s running mate on the 2024 Republican ticket.
TRUMP, RNC TOUT APRIL HAUL AS THEY TRY TO CLOSE FUNDRAISING GAP WITH BIDEN, DEMOCRATS
Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, gives a speech alongside former President Trump during a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, on Jan. 19, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Scott has been meeting with donors as Trump and the Republican National Committee try to close the large fundraising gap they face in the race against President Biden and the Democratic National Committee in the 2024 rematch between the president and his GOP predecessor.
“The one thing you can discern as a top donor and Republican and, frankly, a strong business person is that a strong economy makes all things possible,” Scott said in an interview Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
VP STAKES: TRUMP MEETS WITH POTENTIAL RUNNING MATES
Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, has been very active in helping Trump raise money. He was among the potential Trump running mates on hand this past weekend at an RNC spring donor retreat that was headlined by the former president.
The senator helped organize a major fundraiser for Trump this year ahead of the South Carolina primary. Next week, he’s scheduled to attend a top-dollar fundraiser in New York City for the former president. And as the New York Times first reported, Scott will host a gathering next month in the nation’s capital that will include major GOP donors who remain uncommitted to Trump.
Former President Trump sits beside Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., during a Fox News Channel town hall on Feb. 20, 2024, in Greenville, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
“What I’m going to say to the donors across the country and specifically next week is that four more years under Donald Trump is good for our economy. It’s good for your pocket book. But more important, it’s good for America’s future.”
Scott was a voracious fundraiser as he cruised to a very comfortable 2022 Senate re-election, and he transferred much of his unused campaign cash over to his 2024 White House effort.
Asked if his fundraising efforts on behalf of Trump give him a leg up in the competition for the vice presidential nomination, Scott kept on message, saying, “I certainly hope that all of our efforts will lead to a better America with one result: Donald Trump having four more years.”
As for any competition between him and the other potential contenders, Scott would only say that “my goal isn’t to be in a better position than someone else who wants something. My goal is to make sure that the next generation of leaders looks at me and others and says, ‘Those guys, they burned a path that we get to walk down.'”
Scott was interviewed the day after Indiana’s Republican presidential primary, where former Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won over 21% of the vote against Trump, even though she ended her White House bid two months ago.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley announces that she is suspending her campaign in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 6, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Haley, who was the last candidate standing against Trump before dropping out in March, has not endorsed the former president.
Asked if he had reached out to his fellow South Carolinian in an attempt to mend relations with Trump’s political orbit, the senator said no.
But Scott argued that “the good news is that the voters and the fundraising machine that supported [Haley’s] candidacy and our candidacy and other candidates are all coming back into the fold. The good news is President Trump is a unifying force for our party.”
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
