Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.) formally announced his 2024 bid during an event at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University, on Monday morning.

Scott, who is the only black Republican in the Senate, on Monday called the United States the "freest and fairest land, where you and I can go as high as our character, our grit and our talent will take us."

"I bear witness to that. I testify to that," he said. "That's why I'm the candidate the far left fears the most."

Scott has been on the receiving end of a number of racial attacks from Democrats. Many of those attacks came after Scott gave the Republican response to Biden's first State of the Union address in 2021 and said that America is “not a racist country.” At the time, then- MSNBC anchor Tiffany Cross accused Scott of being "thirsty for white approval" and said that the senator is one of few black Americans who could be characterized as "sleepy, slow-witted sufferers of Stockholm Syndrome."

She said he sounded like a "stone fool" in saying the country is not racist and said if he had ever been a slave, he would have been among those who "Harriet Tubman left behind." A Democratic official in Texas called Scott an “oreo,” a slur that refers to a black person who is seen as "having adopted the attitudes, values and behavior thought to be characteristic of middle-class white society, often at the expense of his or her own heritage," according to Dictionary.com.

"When I cut your taxes, they called me a prop,” Scott said Monday. “When I re-funded the police, they called me a token. When I pushed back on President Biden, they even called me the N-word. I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disproves their lies."

Scott went on to say the GOP and the United States are “standing at a time for choosing” between “victimhood or victory” and “grievance or greatness.”

Scott plans to position himself as a candidate of optimism and will lean heavily on his own life story as a candidate, senior campaign officials told reporters last week.

On Monday, Scott said the U.S. is a place where it is "possible a kid raised in poverty by a single mother in a small apartment" can one day "serve in the People's House and maybe even the White House." His mother worked 16-hour days as a nurse's aide changing bedpans and rolling patients, he said. "My mom's work ethic taught me there is dignity in all work."

He noted his grandfather was "forced out of school and had to start picking cotton" in third grade. "My family went from cotton to Congress in his lifetime. And it was possible because my grandfather had stubborn faith."

Scott entered politics in 1995, when he won a seat on the Charleston City Council in a special election. He stayed on the council for nearly 15 years before becoming a one-term state lawmaker. In 2010, he became the first black Republican elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina more than 100 years. He joined the U.S. Senate in 2012 after then-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is also running for president, appointed Scott to fill a vacancy left by Senator Jim DeMint’s retirement. Scott later won a 2014 special election to keep the seat and was elected to a full term in 2016. He won reelection again last year.

“They say opportunity in America is a myth and faith in America is a fraud,” Scott said Monday. “But the truth of my life disproves their lies.”

America is not a nation in decline, "but under Joe Biden, we have become a nation in retreat." he said.

"Retreating from our heritage and our history," he added. "Retreating from personal responsibility and hard work. Retreating from strength and security. Even retreating from religious liberty and the worship of God himself."

Scott accused Biden and the “radical left” of “attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb.”

“And that is why I am announcing today that I am running for President of the United States of America,” he said.

He laid out plans for tackling the border crisis and the flood of fentanyl entering the country at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“When I am President, the drug cartels using Chinese labs and Mexican factories to kill Americans will cease to exist,” he said. “I will freeze their assets. I'll build the wall. And I will let the world's greatest military fight these terrorists — because that's exactly what they are.”

He also expressed optimism that the U.S. can win the competition against China — but not with President Biden at the helm.

“As President, I will rebuild a military so lethal and powerful that our adversaries will fear us and our allies will respect us,” Scott said. “We will not try to be the world's police force. But we will always defend our vital national interests and our people.”

The South Carolina Republican said he has “lived the truth that education is the closest thing to magic in America.”

“But today, the far left has us retreating away from excellence in our schools,” he said.
“Extreme liberals are letting Big Labor bosses trap millions of kids in failing schools. They're replacing education with indoctrination.”

The announcement in his hometown of North Charleston, S.C., comes after Scott first launched a presidential exploratory committee in early April. The 57-year-old senator has made several stops in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent months as part of his “Faith in America” listening tour.

Scott has around $22 million left over from his Senate reelection campaign last year, and even more in Super PAC funds. The South Carolina Republican will spend $5.5 million on a TV ad buy that will launch Wednesday in Iowa and New Hampshire and run through August, when the first GOP debate is scheduled to take place. Scott will also launch a seven-figure digital ad campaign during that time.

Reports indicate Scott has already notched at least one big endorsement: Senator John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, plans to endorse him.

Scott, like other non-Trump candidates, faces an uphill battle. He is currently notching an average of just 1.8 percent in the polls, according to RealClearPolitics. By contrast, former president Donald Trump sits at 56.3 percent, while Florida governor Ron DeSantis sits in a distant second at 19.4 percent. Haley is third with 4.3 percent.

Senior campaign officials touted Scott’s conservative record last week. He has received top marks from the National Rifle Association and Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America.

After initially stumbling on questions about abortion limits, Scott said earlier this month that he would “sign the most positive, conservative, pro-life piece of legislation I could get to my desk,” if he were elected.

"I would limit abortions to no more than 15 weeks," he said. "And I would hope that by winning the hearts and minds of the American people, that we would have a different conversation about the culture of life and preserving life even better. But until we win those hearts of minds, we won't win the argument. We won't have the votes, but we have to start somewhere."

Following his announcement on Monday, Scott will head to Iowa and then New Hampshire.

Scott will join an ever-growing 2024 field that includes Trump, Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder. DeSantis is also expected to join the race this week, and former vice president Mike Pence may soon follow. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is considering a bid as well.