‘Nice guy’ Tim Scott hopes his personality appeals to Iowa voters in presidential race

LE MARS, Iowa — Tim Scott has been drawing good crowds in Iowa while campaigning this summer and fall in advance of the Jan. 15 Iowa GOP caucuses, and his town hall in Le Mars is no different.

Le Mars — dubbed the “ice cream capital of the world” (it's the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream) — seems the perfect place for Scott. If ice cream is the nation’s feel-good food, then Tim Scott is arguably the feel-good candidate for conservative Republican voters.

The U.S. senator from South Carolina has a warm smile and gracious southern charm and quickly has the standing-room-only crowd laughing freely. As he says: “Thank you for laughing, by the way. You make it easier when we’re having a good time together.”

GOP presidential candidate has 'nice guy' reputation

Scott has developed a “nice guy” reputation among the 2024 Republican presidential candidates, not for any particular policy stance but because of his easy-going personality and extreme hesitancy to sharply criticize two of his controversial opponents, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, or to interrupt people in televised debates.

Scott is even asked if it’s enough to be the nice guy in the field. Scott’s response: “It’s good to be a nice guy. I think the way you get more time on the debate stage cannot be by insulting other folks,” and, “You’ll find that I’m not just a nice guy, I’m a very knowledgeable guy.”

To back this claim, Scott talks for 20 minutes and then takes 11 audience questions and after that questions from the media.

And in Le Mars, it’s Trump that is on people’s minds. One Iowan wants to know how Scott will distinguish himself from Trump. Scott actually starts his answer by noting how he and Trump are similar, discussing how they worked together on various issues.

That leads to how the two men differ, with Scott saying he will be able to court independent voters, “A very clear area of distinction, not in the substance of the policy, but in the style of delivery.”

He also said he differs from Trump in foreign policy: “I don’t necessarily have high regard for dictators and murderers, even if they are world leaders.”

Tim Scott says he won't bash Donald Trump on campaign trail

But Scott openly jokes about how he has no interest in Trump-bashing. Another Iowan asked, “What do you tell Trump supporters?” Scott said, “Next question!” and then he and the crowd laugh.

So what would he tell Trump supporters who might consider voting for him?

“If you want this similar legislative prioritization on the domestic side, I’m your guy," Scott said. "And if you want the power of persuasion so that we win elections going forward, then the Lord bless you to say yes to Tim Scott!”

However, he then goes on to imply that Trump is being unfairly treated in the pending criminal cases by saying that “We should never allow the Department of Justice to be weaponized against political opponents,” which gets him a round of applause.

So a question that afforded him the chance to woo Trump voters ends up generating pro-Trump applause, obviously largely muting Scott's case for himself.

Scott’s approach to policy issues elicits many nods and assents of approval from the crowd. He thinks the country has gone soft and needs discipline, telling a story about himself as a child getting literally whipped into shape by his tree-branch wielding single mom for failing his high school classes, adding: “We call it a switch, a southern apparatus of encouragement. I was thoroughly encouraged.”

He says that America is suffering from “This drug of victimhood, it comes with a narcotic of despair.”

Here's where Tim Scott stands on the issues

He supports closing the southern border and reinstating COVID-era border restrictions not because of COVID but because of the fentanyl coming into the country, which he calls a “health emergency."

Scott wants “school choice” to be the law of the land with public money being used for private schools, supports tax credits for homeschooling families and wants to have all high schools teach trade classes, adding, “Back in the '80s when I was high school, we had shop class."

He wants to restore the Trump-era tax cuts, sign a balanced budget amendment that will slash federal spending and cut tax credits for people who buy electric cars.

“Let’s not pick winners and losers by our government in the private sector,” Scott said.

On the transgender issue: “If God made you a man, you play sports against men.”

When Scott is asked how he’ll bridge the divides in American politics, he said one way “to unite the country as a conservative is to be more in my conservatism and optimistic with my view of the future.”

Like all the other non-Trump candidates, Scott said a top-3 finish in the Iowa caucuses is key, saying, “This is a place where you elect presidents,” and that finishing big will take more than TV ads and money, so “We gotta do it live and in person.”

When he’s done in Le Mars, he starts walking away but stops when someone asks him what his favorite ice cream flavor is. Now here’s a question he doesn’t need to finesse.

Scott smiles, yells “butter pecan!” waves and heads off to the next small Iowa town.

Bob Beatty has a doctorate in political science from Arizona State University and specializes in Kansas and national elections, with a special expertise on the Iowa Caucus and campaigning for president. He has attended and covered the national political party conventions in 2008 and 2016 and 15 presidential debates from 1996-2020.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: ‘Nice guy’ Tim Scott hopes personality appeals to Iowa caucus voters