Sen. Tim Scott, '24 GOP presidential hopeful, vows to secure borders at Rye campaign stop

RYE — Standing before Republican voters and Gov. Chris Sununu, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican seeking the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, pledged Thursday to secure the northern border with Canada to curb illegal immigration into the United States.

The question came at a Rye campaign stop for the GOP contender hosted by Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts U.S. senator and Trump administration ambassador to New Zealand. The former senator and his wife, former New Hampshire Republican congressional candidate and journalist Gail Huff Brown, hosted Scott as part of their public “No BS BBQ” presidential candidate series.

In an August letter to the state’s congressional delegation, Sununu urged the elected officials to address a “surge” in northern border activity, writing: “Illegal border crossings, drug trafficking, and other crimes are increasing in frequency, and a stronger response from the federal government is necessary to keep Granite Staters from becoming victims to these bad actors.”

Scott’s stump speech on Wednesday afternoon included his vow to close both the northern border and the nation's southern border with Mexico to put an end to narcotic trafficking, specifically the flow of fentanyl, and human trafficking, among other policy positions.

“The governor and I were talking about folks from the (Biden) administration that made promises to your governor, and they could not be found to fulfill those promises,” Scott stated. “I operate on (the premise that) a promise made is a promise kept.”

Following a quick trip to the town’s iconic Lago’s Ice Cream alongside Sununu, the Palmetto State candidate gave his pitch to voters young and old seated in stadium chairs and standing around the Central Road barn where the barbecue forum was held.

If elected, Scott said he would seek to protect law enforcement by identifying federal funding to support local agencies, finish the construction of the Mexican border wall, stand “toe to toe” with Chinese president Xi Jinping and bolster educational options for families around the country.

“I am so proud to be an American. I hope you all are really proud to be an American. I’m running for president because I know America can do for anyone what it’s done for me,” he said. “I’m focusing on restoring hope, creating opportunities, and protecting the America we all love.”

Scott said he is a son of a single mother, who worked 16-hour days as a nurse’s aide and reprimanded him for poor grades in school. He noted he lived in poverty during his upbringing. He touted his 12-step “Empower Parents Plan” to protect children, with ideas to require technology giants to keep children safe online and enact nationwide school choice for families.

“I believe we have to put parents back in charge of education. Parents need to have access to the curriculum that their kids are being taught,” he said. “We need our kids to be educated, not indoctrinated.”

Scott received applause for his response to a question regarding racial tensions in the country.

“There is no such thing as Black poverty or white poverty, there’s just poverty. There’s not Black kids’ issues or white kids’ issues, there’s just kids issues,” he said. “Our system of free markets work for everybody. This is why my candidacy is so dangerous to the radical left. The truth of my life disproves their lies. I was not born with a silver spoon. Mine was plastic. Growing up in poverty … going to work 30 hours a week while I was in high school taught me valuable lessons of hard work and grit.”

He added his views that sanctuary cities housing illegal immigrants should be eliminated, legislation should be written to increase trade apprenticeship programs and using more nuclear energy to reduce harmful emissions.

Sununu praises Scott's campaign, calls on Republicans to move on from Trump

Sununu opened the event by praising presidential candidates traveling to New Hampshire and hearing the issues that matter most to voters. The governor additionally commended the Browns for creating a candidate series that attracts not only New Hampshire voters, but residents of other nearby states with less access to presidential hopefuls.

“Senator Scott, he’s just incredible,” Sununu continued. “We met a couple years ago. It’s been a great relationship. This is what I love: He’s pounding the pavement. He’s doing it right. He’s going county to county, town to town, event to event.”

In his remarks, Sununu referenced Trump, saying that Republicans have to move forward in the 2024 race.

“In America, we don’t go backwards,” he said. “We don’t get the new iPhone and say, ‘I guess I want three generations ago.’ We want the new ‘2.0,’ the new idea, the new generation. That is what America was founded on.”

Traveling more than an hour to the event from Mason, Jonie and Jeff Anderson believe that Scott is the best candidate to handle race relations in the United States.

“It’s very early in the process, but he interests us because he’s very even-keeled. He’s very well-spoken,” Jonie Anderson said. “He’s very empathetic and calm. There’s too much tension right now.”

Gary Misiaszek will not support Trump in the primary but would vote for him if he receives the Republican presidential nomination. The Rye resident, an attendee of numerous candidate events held by the Browns, is undecided on who to support in the Republican primary but currently first supports Ramaswamy and then Haley before Scott.

In the upcoming election, the issues that matter most to Misiaszek include immigration policies and national security, ensuring a fair election and protection of First Amendment rights.

“I just want to show my support, number one, and get a feeling for the people who are running for the nomination,” he said of his attendance on Thursday. “I want to get a feeling of how passionate they are about it.”

Where Scott stands in the polls

Emerson College’s latest national poll of voters ahead of the Democratic and Republican primaries shows 5% of voters would support Scott among all the GOP candidates on the Milwaukee debate stage last month. His Real Clear Politics polling average is 10.2% in Iowa and 7.5% in New Hampshire, placing him third and fourth respectively in the crucial early caucus and primary.

Former President Donald Trump still leads the way among the Republican presidential contenders, with 50% of voters noting they’d support the twice-impeached former leader, his lowest support percentage to date among all of Emerson’s national polls.

After a steep drop, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sits in second in the Emerson poll at 12%, followed by former biotech executive and author Vivek Ramaswamy at 9%, Trump’s old vice president Mike Pence at 7%, and former South Carolina governor and Trump-era ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also at 7%.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Republican Sen. Tim Scott vows to secure borders at Rye campaign stop