Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, speaks to a gathering of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women on Thursday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, speaks to a gathering of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women on Thursday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
GOFFSTOWN — Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott said it was appropriate that he kick off his formal bid for the White House here Thursday before the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women.
As the son of a single mother who grew up in poverty, Scott, 57, said the lessons a strong woman taught him about faith and hard work helped him become the first Black person elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction.
“I understand the misery uniquely that comes from broken pieces in a broken family with a broken heart,” Scott said in a forum at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on the campus of Saint Anselm College.
He presented every woman who attended the event with a red rose, a practice he started when speaking before women’s groups that he said goes back to 2009 while he served as a South Carolina state legislator.
“I was the only man who saw fit to join the women’s caucus,” Scott recalled.
During the event, Scott answered questions on education, national security, energy and debt reduction.
Scott formally announced his campaign at a rally in his home state on Monday.
A social conservative, Scott sharply criticized attempts of government to impose liberal views on gender identity in the military and in athletics.
“We need to make sure we stop social experimenting in our military,” he said. “We need to be the most lethal fighting force on earth; that should be our objective.”
A former college football running back, Scott said he opposes sports organizations that are allowing athletes born male to compete in female sports.
“To change your identity and then compete against another gender, that is unfair, period,” Scott said.
National security
The U.S. is at a crossroads internationally as it faces a “peer-to-peer” competition with China never seen before in American history.
“We have to become more independent from the Chinese Communist Party period,” Scott said.
“We have to have an industrial revolution back home.”
Due to supply chain programs and high inflation, the U.S. is unable to fulfill promises made to its allies about supplying them with weapons, equipment and other resources, Scott said.
If elected, Scott said the first act he would take would be to sign an executive order that reinstates the Keystone XL oil pipeline project
“We have to think of national security and energy security to be one and the same,” Scott said.
Voter reaction
State Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, said Scott makes a persuasive case for himself.
“He’s well-spoken but at the same time very humble and that’s a good combination for any presidential candidate,” Ricciardi said.
Christine Peters of Amherst, a member of the federation’s board of directors, agreed.
“He really makes a good first impression, that’s for sure,” Peters said.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley said Scott is out of the political mainstream.
“You don’t need to look very far to see that Tim Scott’s 2024 platform is just another version of the failed Trump-Pence MAGA agenda that Granite Staters have rejected twice,” Buckley said in a statement.
