Democrat: ‘Registration, engagement’ are keys to toppling Sen. Tim Scott in South Carolina

Rep. Krystle Matthews (D-S.C.) said in a new interview that “voter registration, engagement and mobilization” are the keys to defeating Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in 2022.

“We’re going to meet and engage as many people as we can, particularly people who haven’t voted in a while,” Matthews, who is expected to officially launch a campaign on Tuesday to defeat Scott, told The Associated Press.

“This is a true grassroots effort, focusing on voter registration, engagement and mobilization,” she added. 

Matthews said her campaign wants to register 150,000 new voters across South Carolina, where Democrats have struggled to close the margin in statewide elections. 

Matthews, 40, who was recently elected to her second term in the South Carolina State House, represents the district of north Charleston, the AP noted. 

The news service added that she is working with campaign aides who helped Kristin Graziano become the state’s first elected female sheriff in 2020. 

“The people of South Carolina, we’re ready for somebody that represents all of the people, all of the time, and not just some of the people, some of the time,” Matthews said. 

Scott is the only black Republican in the Senate and one of three Black senators.  He previously served one term in the U.S. House and then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) appointed him to the Senate in 2012. 

Scott, who is being supported by former President Trump and has been mentioned as a 2024 White House candidate, has said that 2022 will be the last time he runs for a Senate seat.

Scott late last month defended his comments that “woke supremacy” is as bad as white supremacy, saying it was a response to being called a token for Republicans.

Scott said that he was not comparing the history of white supremacy and that he is “painfully aware that four centuries of racism, bigotry and killings does not compare to the nascent woke movement.”

However, he said he is “gravely concerned for our future if we ignore either type of supremacy — both of which are rooted in racism or discrimination.”

–Updated at 12:02 p.m.