Scott blasts Biden on border: 'If you don’t control your back door of your house, it’s not your house.'

MANCHESTER, N.H. − In one of the most consequential weeks in Washington politics, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., headlined a town hall Monday in the key early voting state of New Hampshire, where he blasted President Joe Biden over the nation's debt and border crisis.

He fielded questions from Granite State voters for almost an hour at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, offering a mix of quips and digs among his answers in what was all but a campaign stop before he is expected to officially announce a presidential campaign on May 22 in North Charleston, South Carolina.

After Noel Licata, 18, from Tilton asked the South Carolina senator what qualities make a good role model, Scott asked how old he was.

“Ok you can vote, I’ll answer this question,” Scott joked.

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Scott: 'The proof of my life disproves your lies'

The South Carolina senator has campaigned heavily on his background as a child of poverty and the grandson of a man who had to drop out of school to pick cotton.

“He was forced out of school and had to go start picking cotton, but he lived long enough to watch his grandson pick out a seat in Congress,” Scott said. “The proof of my life disproves your lies.”

Scott has not shied away from his future possible status as the only Black Republican candidate in the 2024 race – his ascension from poverty to becoming a U.S. Senator is proof, he argues, the American dream is still possible.

“This may surprise some of y’all, I’m Black,” Scott quipped after being asked about how the GOP can appeal to voters of color.

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Scott takes aim at Biden over southern border

As Title 42, a Trump-era COVID policy that made it easier to expel migrants at the southern border, is set to expire and result in a migration surge, Scott pinned the crisis at the border on President Joe Biden.

"If you don’t control your back door of your house, it’s not your house,” Scott said. “If you don’t control your southern border, it’s not your country.”

When asked how he would solve the migrant crisis, Scott put it simply: keep constructing former President Donald Trump’s wall at the southern border, albeit without mentioning his potential 2024 rival by name.

“We have to have actual dedicated resources for building a physical impediment. Technology in of itself won’t do,” Scott said.

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Clean debt ceiling increase? No thanks, Scott says

Scott has made multiple stops for months as part of his “Faith in America” tour and the South Carolina senator has started to build his campaign on a message of traditional conservatism – including fiscal responsibility.

“I like numbers. If you’re suffering from insomnia, give me a call, I’ll walk you through the numbers of the budget and you will take a good nap,” Scott said, touting his credentials as the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee.

And as the country nears a first-ever default as early as June 1, Scott went after Biden and congressional Democrats for their push for a clean debt ceiling increase without the spending cuts congressional Republicans have demanded.

“No one thinks it’s a good idea,” Scott said of a clean debt ceiling increase with no strings attached. “We need a balanced budget.”

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N.H. voter: 'I'd vote for Tim Scott, but today's not the election'

New Hampshire is attempting to fend off a plan from the Democratic National Committee that stripped it of its first-in-the-nation primary status, which has become core to the state’s political identity. Scott sought to directly court New Hampshire voters in the state that has paved the path for multiple presidential hopefuls, even at the expense of his own home state of South Carolina, which the DNC newly crowned as the first state on its nominating calendar earlier this year.

“Not gonna happen,” Scott told voters on whether he would support such a move in a line that perhaps received the most applause from the crowd. “They will hear this in South Carolina by the way too … I love being the first in the South but New Hampshire is staying the first-in-the-nation.”

Holderness voters Peter Barach and Debra Barach, 58 and 46 respectively, said they were impressed by Scott’s laid back personality and his traditional conservative campaign platform.

“I’m not a religious person, but I believe in faith,” Peter Barach said of Scott’s Faith in America Tour. “Sitting down with him, listening to Tim Scott face to face goes a long way.”

And Licata, who only recently turned 18 and has yet to register to vote, said Scott exemplified his own values. Licata thinks the two frontrunners in the GOP primary, Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are too “inflammatory.”

“I’d like to see somebody who can unify the nation more,” Licata said, adding he is still completely undecided on a candidate. “If I were to vote today, I’d vote for Tim Scott, but today’s not the election.”

Scott promised, even before formally declaring his candidacy, that he will be in New Hampshire again, a lot.

“I will be back so often that you’ll say, ‘He’s back again?’” Scott promised.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tim Scott in N.H. said the border wall is the solution to crisis