Sen. Tim Scott is officially running for president in 2024.  

The South Carolina Republican made the announcement Monday to a crowd at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University. In his speech, the senator shared his personal story and how he was raised by a single mother. He talked about the challenges he and his family overcame, and the opportunities America has provided him.

Scott also expressed concern about the ways the political Left has affected the nation through woke education in our schools and about policies that have allowed millions of illegal aliens to cross America’s southern border. 

“[President] Joe Biden and the radical Left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” the second-term senator said. “And that is why I am announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America.” 

Scott told the crowd of about 2,000 people that as president, he would bolster America’s military and secure America’s southern border.  

The South Carolina senator also pledged he would bring more manufacturing back to America.  

“I will be the president who ramps up research and development, reclaims supply chains, and re-energizes our manufacturing base with Opportunity Zones 2.0 and an entire ‘Made In America’ agenda,” Scott said. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican, is expected to announce his candidacy for president later this week. Former President Donald Trump is already several months into his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump weighed in on Scott’s announcement on his social media platform Truth Social Monday, taking the opportunity to criticize DeSantis.  

“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race,” Trump wrote. “It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable.” 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are also running for the GOP nomination.  

So far, just two Democrats have announced they will compete for their party’s nomination against Biden in 2024: author and social justice activist Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. 

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