1. Timothy Eugene Scott was born on September 19,1965 and is an American businessman and politician serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from South Carolina.
57 Facts About Tim Scott
1. 2.
Tim Scott won the special election for the seat in 2014, and was elected to a full term in 2016 and reelected in 2022.
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Tim Scott is the first African-American senator in the Southern United States to be directly elected, the longest-serving black senator in US history, the first to serve in both the House and Senate, and the first to chair a full committee.
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In May 2023, Tim Scott declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination.
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Tim Scott was born on September 19,1965, in North Charleston, South Carolina, to Frances, a nursing assistant, and Ben Scott Sr.
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When Tim Scott was seven years old, his parents divorced, leaving him and his older brother, who later became a sergeant major in the US Army, to grow up in working-class poverty with their mother, who often worked double shifts to support her family.
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From an early age, Tim Scott enjoyed sports and excelled at football.
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Tim Scott overcame racial prejudice in high school, securing election as student body vice president in his junior year and student body president as a senior.
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Tim Scott was introduced to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, an encounter that led him to his Christian faith, which became a central part of his life.
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Tim Scott later transferred to Charleston Southern University, where he graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science.
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Tim Scott ran in a February 1995 special election for the Charleston County Council at-large seat vacated by Keith Summey, who had resigned upon being elected mayor of North Charleston.
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Tim Scott became the first black Republican elected to any office in South Carolina since the late 19th century.
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Tim Scott was reelected to the Charleston County Council in 2000.
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Tim Scott served on the Charleston County Council from 1995 until 2009, becoming chairman in 2007.
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The county council unanimously approved the display, and Tim Scott nailed a King James version of the Commandments to the wall.
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Tim Scott was then elected to the Charleston County Council by District 3, rather than by the whole county.
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Tim Scott won the general election unopposed, becoming the first Republican African-American State Representative in South Carolina in more than 100 years.
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Tim Scott supported South Carolina's right-to-work laws and argued that Boeing chose South Carolina as a site for manufacturing for that reason.
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Tim Scott entered the election for lieutenant governor but switched to run for South Carolina's 1st congressional district after Republican incumbent Henry Brown announced his retirement.
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Tim Scott was endorsed by the Club for Growth, various Tea Party movement groups, former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Republican House Whip Eric Cantor, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and South Carolina Senator and Minuteman Project founder Jim DeMint.
21.
Tim Scott became the first African-American Republican elected to Congress from South Carolina in 114 years.
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In March 2011, Tim Scott co-sponsored a welfare reform bill that the liberal blog ThinkProgress said would terminate food stamps to families when a family member participates in a labor strike; the Republican Study Committee denied that charge.
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Tim Scott introduced legislation in July 2011 so that the National Labor Relations Board could not order "any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstance".
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Tim Scott said the project was merit-based and in the national interest because larger cargo ships could use the port and jobs would be created.
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Tim Scott was later appointed to the Committee on Rules and relinquished his other two assignments.
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On December 17,2012, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley announced she would appoint Tim Scott to replace retiring Senator Jim DeMint, who had previously announced that he would retire from the Senate to become the President of The Heritage Foundation.
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Tim Scott is the first African American US senator from South Carolina.
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Tim Scott was one of three black US Senators in the 113th Congress, alongside Mo Cowan and later Cory Booker.
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Tim Scott is the first African American to be a US senator from the Southern United States since Reconstruction.
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Tim Scott earned this seat with the results he has shown.
31.
Tim Scott ran to serve the final two years of DeMint's term and won.
32.
On May 28,2021, Tim Scott voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 US Capitol attack.
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Tim Scott led the drafting of a bill on race and police reform.
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In February 2023, it was reported that Tim Scott was preparing for a presidential run.
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Tim Scott announced a "listening tour" that would include a Black History Month event in Charleston, South Carolina, as the tour's first stop and then hosted events and speeches throughout Iowa, the first state to vote in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
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Tim Scott announced the suspension of his campaign on Fox News's Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy on November 12,2023.
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Tim Scott believes that federal spending and taxes should be reduced, with a Balanced Budget Amendment and the FairTax respectively implemented for spending and taxes.
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Tim Scott has said that US health care is among the greatest in the world, that people all over the world come to study in American medical schools, waiting lists are rare, and that Americans are able to choose their insurance, providers, and course of treatment.
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In January 2019, Tim Scott was one of six senators to cosponsor the Health Insurance Tax Relief Act, delaying the Health Insurance Tax for two years.
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Tim Scott proposed the opportunity zone designation in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
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Tim Scott was among the 31 Senate Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
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Tim Scott describes himself as pro-life and has been a vocal opponent of abortion.
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Tim Scott opposes same-sex marriage, and voted against the Respect for Marriage Act of 2022, which provided federal statutory recognition of same-sex marriage.
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Tim Scott supports strengthening penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
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Tim Scott promotes cultural assimilation by making English the official language in the government and requiring new immigrants to learn English.
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Tim Scott opposes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
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Tim Scott introduced a bill that would deny food stamps to families whose incomes declined to the point of eligibility because a family member was participating in a labor strike.
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Tim Scott advocated continued military presence in Afghanistan and believed early withdrawal would benefit al-Qaeda.
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In January 2018, Tim Scott was one of 36 Republican senators to sign a letter asking Trump to preserve the North American Free Trade Agreement in modernized form.
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In 2017, Tim Scott was one of 22 senators to sign a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.
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Tim Scott did not support the nomination of Ryan Bounds to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, effectively killing the nomination.
52.
In November 2018, Scott bucked his party in opposing the nomination of Thomas A Farr for a federal judgeship.
53.
Tim Scott coordinated several 'ballot security' activities in 1984, including a postcard mailing to voters in predominantly black precincts that was designed to serve as a basis to challenge voters on election day.
54.
Tim Scott called upon Trump to delete his tweets that attacked demonstrators against the murder of George Floyd.
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Tim Scott advocated that Trump delete his retweet of supporters chanting "white power", which he soon did.
56.
Tim Scott has endorsed Lindsey Graham in the 2026 United States Senate race, and is serving in a leadership capacity on Graham's campaign team.
57.
In May 2023, Tim Scott shared details about being in a relationship with an unnamed girlfriend.