Dem
51
GOP
49
It is now official: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is running for president. We have no idea why. We doubt that he does. Certainly nobody else does. Is the goal to show that Black politicians can be as egotistical and dumb as white politicians? That would be equality of sorts, we guess.
Paddy Power has his odds at 66/1, which is better than the odds on Kari Lake (200/1), Ivanka Trump (250/1) or Stormy Daniels (500/1). But it is worse than Robert Kennedy Jr (14/1), Michelle Obama (25/1), and Joe Manchin (50/1). It also ties Tucker Carlson (66/1). We think Paddy Power is being much too optimistic. To even get the Republican nomination, all the top candidates would have to collapse, followed by all the second-tier candidates (Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, etc.). Then all the plausible candidates who are not running (e.g., Sens. Josh Hawley, R-MO, and Ted Cruz, R-TX) would have to stay out, even with a clear shot at the nomination. It ain't gonna happen.
Maybe Scott is dreaming of living at One Naval Observatory. He's certainly not going to be Donald Trump's running mate or Ron DeSantis'. Or anyone else's. His problem is that he brings nothing to the ticket. Black voters aren't going to vote for him just because he is Black, especially when the other side also will have a Black veep candidate. Conservatives might like him, but they will vote for any Republican ticket. South Carolina is already in the bag for the GOP. What does Scott add? Nothing.
The only thing we can think of that makes even an itsy bitsy bit of sense is that Scott is thinking about running for governor of South Carolina in 2026, when Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) will be term limited. Maybe Scott thinks that running for president will give him more publicity than he can get as a senator, but even that seems improbable. Maybe he is just bored with being a senator and thinks even a losing run for president would add some excitement to his life. (V)