Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.), who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in November, endorsed former president Donald Trump at a New Hampshire rally Friday night, four days before the state’s Republican primary.
“We need Donald Trump,” Scott repeatedly told voters in Concord, N.H., declaring the former president as the best candidate to defeat President Joe Biden in November. “That’s why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience, “to endorse the next president of these United States, President Donald Trump.”
.@votetimscott endorses Donald Trump for president! pic.twitter.com/NEDcWnThGQ
— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) January 20, 2024
Scott joined Vivek Ramaswamy and Governor Doug Burgum (R., N.D.) in becoming the third former Republican presidential candidate to endorse Trump this week.
Hours before the rally, Scott teased an important announcement while standing in front of Trump’s private plane.
“I’m so excited for the announcement tonight. Just tune in, pay attention, listen closely, and let’s talk about four more years,” he said in a video posted to X.
Trump and his allies had been privately courting Scott to gain his support, the New York Times reported earlier Friday, citing sources aware of the endorsement. It’s speculated that Scott is one of the potential picks for Trump’s running mate, along with Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), who also spoke at the rally.
The senator voiced his support for the former president over Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, both of whom are polling significantly behind Trump in the Granite State. Trump maintains a commanding 17-point lead against Haley in New Hampshire, according to Friday’s Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe tracking poll. Meanwhile, DeSantis is trailing Trump by 46 points ahead of the primary.
Scott’s endorsement is a blow to Haley, a fellow South Carolina Republican, who was hoping to match Trump’s numbers by the 2024 primaries. The former South Carolina governor, who launched her presidential bid in February, campaigned heavily in New Hampshire for months leading up to its primary election.
“Interesting that Trump’s lining up with all the Washington insiders when he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp,” Haley said in a statement provided to the Times. “But the fellas are gonna do what the fellas are gonna do.”
Scheduled for Tuesday, New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary follows the Iowa caucuses, which saw Trump dominate the competition earlier this week. The former president was the clear front-runner with 51 percent of the vote in Iowa, while DeSantis and Haley stood at 21 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Ramaswamy, with over 7 percent of the vote, dropped out of the race altogether Monday night and subsequently endorsed Trump.