Campaign

Trump nabs Scott endorsement: ‘We need a president who will unite our country’

by Caroline Vakil - 01/19/24 9:29 PM ET

File – Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign event in Concord, N.H., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) formally endorsed former President Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination during a rally Friday, saying “we need a president who will unite our country.”

“We need a president who will unite our country — we need Donald Trump,” Scott said, speaking to the former president’s supporters at a campaign stop in Concord, N.H.

“We need a president who will protect your Social Security and my momma’s Social Security. We need Donald Trump. We need a president today who will stop the crime and recklessness in the streets. We need a president who will restore law and order,” the senator added.

He later quipped, “That’s why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of these United States – President Donald Trump.”

The South Carolina senator suspended his own White House bid in November, but his decision to exit the race raised speculation around whom he would back.

Scott’s endorsement of Trump was expected since earlier on Friday and was seen as a jab against former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, another South Carolina Republican and former ally of the senator.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed Haley last month, brushed off Scott’s anticipated endorsement earlier Friday, claiming “nobody cares what Tim Scott thinks.”

“Tim Scott wouldn’t have a job without Nikki Haley,” Sununu said in an interview with Fox News, a nod to the fact that Scott was appointed to the Senate by Haley in 2012.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, on the other hand, said while he wasn’t surprised by the endorsement, it is “concerning.”

“It’s certainly not good news,” Hogan, who announced his support for Haley earlier this month, told contributor Kevin Cirilli of The Hill’s “Daily Debrief.”

Scott’s endorsement of Trump comes ahead of next week’s New Hampshire primary — where Trump is leading Haley by only 10.6 percent, according to the recent polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.