(NewsNation) — Americans are likely to hear much more about Sen. Tim Scott in the coming weeks, as the South Carolina Republican has entered the 2024 presidential race.
The official filing comes ahead of a formal announcement expected Monday during an event at Charleston Southern University, his alma mater.
Here are some things to know about Scott:
The senator has been on Capitol Hill for over a decade and is currently the only black Republican in the Senate.
He launched a presidential exploratory committee in April, emphasizing his evangelical faith, his race and his background growing up in a poor single-parent home with his mom.
“Frances Scott. I think to myself that had it not been for her sacrifice, her perseverance, her resilience, I would not be sitting here today,” he has said about his mother.
Born and raised in Charleston, the 57-year-old joined the Senate in 2013 after two years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has generally voted with party leadership throughout the last three administrations.
Notably, he sought to repeal former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and championed a childcare bill to expand family options.
On social issues, he has taken strong conservative positions on abortion and same-sex marriage.
The deeply religious former insurance broker has made his grandfather’s work in the cotton fields of the Deep South a bedrock of his political identity. Yet he rejects the notion that racism remains a powerful force in society, and has cast his candidacy and rise from generational poverty as the realization of a dream only possible in America.
The senator refuses to frame his own life story around the country’s racial inequities. He insists that those who disagree with his views on the issue are trying to “weaponize race to divide us,” and that “the truth of my life disproves their lies.”
During a February visit to Iowa, which holds the first GOP presidential caucuses, Scott spoke of a “new American sunrise” rooted in collaboration.
“I see a future where common sense has rebuilt common ground, where we’ve created real unity, not by compromising away our conservatism, but by winning converts to our conservatism,” he said.
He easily won reelection last year by 26 points in the Palmetto State. It has been reported he has nearly $22 million in his Senate campaign account, which he could use for his presidential bid.
Scott is launching a huge $6 million ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire, one of the largest single ad buys in the 2024 race, in the most important primary states.
His polling so far is in the single digits as he joins a growing GOP primary field that already includes former president Donald Trump, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and others. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his much-anticipated candidacy next week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.