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SC State Rep. Tim Scott (R-Charleston) at a campaign event (Tim Scott)
CHARLESTON REPUBLICAN ENDS LT. GOV. BID
The field of candidates hoping to become South Carolina’s next lieutenant governor just got a little slimmer, while the race for the first district Congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Henry Brown picked up a new contender.
State Rep. Tim Scott (R-Charleston), the first African-American Republican elected in South Carolina since Reconstruction, announced on Monday that he was ending his bid for lieutenant governor to run for Congress.
“I’m a conservative Republican and I want to go to Washington to win our country back,” Scott said in a statement. “I believe America is at a crossroads, and we must quickly reverse the course the Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress have charted of more government spending, more government involvement in the lives of its citizens, and ever higher taxes to pay for it. I strongly oppose that course for our nation, and am determined to fight to reverse that course.”
Scott has already revamped his website at VoteTimScott.com to reflect a Congressional campaign.
Scott said he blames Democrat leadership, including President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for “leading our country to the brink of bankruptcy.”
“It’s very simple,” said Scott. “You cannot consistently spend what you do not have without dire consequences.”
Scott’s departure from the lieutenant governor’s race leaves two Republicans — Florence County Councilman Ken Ard and Orangeburg attorney Bill Connor — as well as Democrat Ashley Cooper, a Charleston attorney, vying for Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s seat.
But Scott joins a loaded GOP Congressional field that includes Charleston County Councilman Paul Thurmond and businessman Carroll Campbell III, both sons of popular former South Carolina officials. Longtime Brown aide Stovall Witte and perennial candidate Katherine Jenerette are also in the race.
If there is anyone in this race that will look out for the small business community in South Carolina, it is Carroll Campbell. He is a candidate that understands what it takes to bring a change to our economy. As for Tim Scott, it seems that he has lost sight of what public service is all about. He is quick to abandon his campaign for Lt. Governor after his advisors’ warning of their drop in polls resulting from a failed campaign attempt. This is his third candidacy in two years, which leaves SC voters asking “what is Tim Scott really about?” It seems to me that he is a self-serving individual, claiming that he is all about public service. The two don’t mix. They are like oil and water, and every informed SC voter will quickly realize this. Carroll Campbell is a man of character, and is in touch with the needs of every South Carolinian. He is the only candidate that has what it takes to launch this state into an economic recovery that we all desperately need and deserve. He was the first to stand up and challenge the “good old boy” system that Brown got caught up in, and with a hefty pension plan in sight, stayed in office at the expense of the hard working people of this great state. He has a workable plan for securing South Carolina’s economic stability, and we can’t let someone like Tim Scott use this race as a “scapegoat” for a failed run for Lt. Governor.