Nearly two weeks after Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) announced he would step down from the Senate to lead the Heritage Foundation, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is prepared to name his successor.
Updated Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has chosen Representative Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the United States Senate, according to three Republican officials. The move will make Mr. Scott the first black senator from the South since the late 19th century.
[I]n choosing Mr. Scott, she selected a lawmaker with a strong conservative voting record during his two years in Congress.
Additionally, Mr. Scott, 47, offers a unique story and background, one that is in scant supply in the Republican Party right now. Raised by a single mother, he was, by his account, a lost child who struggled with school and with life until a Chick-fil-A franchise owner took him on as a protege and schooled him in conservative principles.
Scott will be only the seventh African-American U.S. senator in American history, and will be the only African-American senator serving in the chamber in the next Congress. What’s more, Scott will South Carolina’s first black senator, and the first black Republican in the Senate since 1979, and the first black senator from the South since 1881.
Haley made clear last week that she did not intend to appoint a “placeholder” senator, which strongly suggests Scott will seek a full term when South Carolina holds a special election for the Senate seat in 2014.
As for Scott’s ideology, the congressman’s right-wing worldview is awfully similar to that of the senator he’s replacing. Adam Peck had this overview piece a couple of weeks ago. In 2011, [Scott] voted to extend billions of dollars in subsidies to big oil companies, arguing that taxpayer-funded money going to companies that reap billions in profits was “fair.” And during the last fight over the debt ceiling, Scott floated the possibility of introducing articles of impeachment against President Obama. While a State Representative, Scott helped to defund South Carolina’s entire HIV/AIDS programs, including the elimination of the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Scott Keyes published a more detailed piece this morning, noting, among other things, Scott’s position as “one of the most anti-union members of Congress,” and his desire to spend unlimited amounts of taxpayer money in defense of a government-sponsored Ten Commandments display during his tenure on the Charleston County Council. Also note the meteoric rise of Tim Scott’s career. In 2009, he began serving in the South Carolina state legislature. After one term, he began serving in the U.S. House just last year. Now, he’ll be a U.S. senator.
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