Tim Scott and Nikki Haley to make dueling appearances at South Carolina forum
Ryan King
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South Carolina Republican heavyweights Sen. Tim Scott and former Gov. Nikki Haley are set to make dueling appearances at a candidate forum next month.
Scott and Haley are confirmed speakers at the Palmetto Family Council’s Vision ‘24 National Conservative Forum, which is slated for March 18 and may feature other Republican presidential hopefuls, according to event organizers.
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Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her 2024 campaign, becoming the first major Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump, who announced his 2024 campaign last November.
She is slated to deliver a “big announcement” Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina, and then stump in New Hampshire and Iowa.
Scott, the junior senator from the Palmetto State, is poised to embark upon a “listening tour” in Charleston on Thursday before hitting the road to Iowa next week as he weighs a 2024 entry of his own.
Organizers of the event have extended invites to other speculated 2024 Republican hopefuls, such as former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), and more, but most have not yet confirmed whether they will attend.
In addition to crossing paths at the “Vision ‘24” event next month, Haley and Scott will likely attend a donor forum in Austin next week, featuring possible donors keen on hearing from candidates other than Trump, according to Politico. Scott has been privately laying down the groundwork for a presidential run.
Scott’s 2022 Senate campaign reportedly amassed a war chest of $21.8 million by the end of the year, which could theoretically be used for a presidential campaign stint. Political action committees aligned with him also began the year with about $16 million in financial firepower, per the report.
Haley appointed Scott to fill a Senate vacancy in 2012, which paved the way for his rise to GOP stardom. Both South Carolinians have broken glass ceilings and achieved political firsts.
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Scott is the first black senator from South Carolina and the only black Republican in the upper chamber. Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina and the first woman of color, as well as the fifth woman, to seek the GOP presidential nod.
Early polls of the 2024 scrum show both Haley and Scott trailing their competition, with Trump and DeSantis leading the pack. Hailey is in fourth, while Scott is polling around ninth, according to the latest Race to the WH polling aggregate.