A big reason why Tim Scott poses a credible threat to Donald Trump
When Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) today announced that he's forming a presidential exploratory committee, he reserved his strongest words for "Biden liberals" and the "radical left" as he promised to defend "conservative values that make America exceptional".
Scott never mentioned 2024 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump by name. Nor did he allude to the former president's massive legal troubles.
Perhaps that's because, in 2021, Scott promised The Post and Courier of Myrtle Beach, S.C., that he would "of course" support a Trump presidential campaign were Trump to run.
Trump indeed ran. And Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, and one of just a few in Congress, is now poised to challenge the still-undisputed leader of the GOP who once praised Scott as "an outstanding senator and person who works tirelessly for the people of his great state, and the USA".
If there's one initial reason to believe Scott's gambit is legit, despite his meager poll numbers, it's this: money.
Federal records indicate that Scott is sitting on nearly $22 million in surplus campaign cash left over from his most recent U.S. Senate race, which he handily won in November.
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Crucially, Scott may legally transfer this money to a presidential campaign committee, per federal election law.
Such a nest egg is itself more money than several credible 2016 Republican primary presidential candidates — Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie — raised during the entire 2016 GOP presidential primary, according to federal data compiled by OpenSecrets.
It's also much more than declared 2024 Republican presidential candidates who aren't Trump — namely, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson — could hope to have at this juncture. And it would certainly keep Scott financially competitive with the buzziest of maybe/possibly/likely Trump challengers to date, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scott's presidential exploratory committee — a sort of federally blessed stepping stone to a full-blown campaign operation — allows him to engage in "permissible testing the waters activities" that "include conducting polling, traveling and making telephone calls to determine whether the individual should become a candidate," according to Federal Election Commission guidance.
Scott will also be permitted to raise money new during this phase. Cash he does collect during this time — and doesn't spend on "testing the waters" activities — may generally be rolled over into Scott's presidential campaign upon him forming one.
For now, Trump's campaign operation remains bigger, badder and more well-funded, even receiving a $7 million boost — so his campaign says — in the hours after Trump's arraignment last week on 34 felony counts.
As of Dec. 31, Trump's joint fundraising committee — a fundraising vehicle for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign committee and Save America political action committee — reported nearly $38 million cash on hand. Sundry super PACs, including Trump allies' flagship, MAGA Inc., give him added financial firepower.
But Trump is also burning through some of his reserves much more quickly that he might otherwise, in part because of his need to fund various legal fights and desire to fuel major overhead expenses, such as the large-scale rallies he so loves — and the custom Boeing 757 jet that shuttles him around.
And while DeSantis is himself sitting on a huge reserve of money from his recent gubernatorial campaign, he would not, by law, be allowed to transfer that money directly into a federal presidential campaign account. Instead, he'd have to shovel it into a pro-DeSantis super PAC, which he could not directly control in the same fashion as he could his own campaign committee.
Together, this gives Scott the kind of political daylight that could portend a notable run deep into what's an increasingly crowded race — a race where Scott's home state of South Carolina will host one of the GOP's earliest primaries.
It's a potentially decisive one. Just ask President Joe Biden, the most recent presidential candidate to beat Trump.