SC’s Senator Tim Scott gets endorsement from Trump

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South Carolina’s junior U.S. Sen. Tim Scott scored an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, according to a statement from Trump’s Save America PAC.

“It is my great honor to give Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina my complete and total endorsement,” Trump’s statement read. “He is both an outstanding senator and person who works tirelessly for the people of his great state, and the USA. Strong on the military, law enforcement, loves our vets, protects our Second Amendment and our borders. Tim will continue to do an outstanding job for our country!”

Scott, a Charleston Republican facing re-election in 2022, worked closely with Trump on a number of issues during the former president’s term in office.

Scott’s “opportunity zones,” a program that would allow states to identify economically disadvantaged communities and would provide investors a tax incentive to go into those areas, was included in Trump’s major tax reform bill that passed in 2017.

The Senate’s sole Black Republican, Scott also was instrumental in crafting Trump’s criminal justice reform plan. The bill addressed a number of areas of reform for police departments, including encouraging law enforcement agencies to end practicing things like chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

Scott isn’t the only South Carolina Republican to receive the former president’s endorsement in the weeks after his term ended. S.C. GOP Chairman Drew McKissick won an endorsement from Trump as he sought to continue his chairmanship of the state party.

Trump’s endorsement comes as Republicans struggle over the former president’s involvement in the party. The GOP is deeply divided, with one faction saying Trump should have no role whatsoever, while the other stands by his side.

Scott, along with his fellow senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, have continued to show their support for the former president. Other South Carolina politicians have taken the opposite stance, like former United Nations Ambassador and S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, who has said he has no future in the GOP.