Senator Tim Scott will fly to Palm Beach before traveling to New Hampshire on Friday.
The Trump, Haley and DeSantis campaigns had been trying to court the senator.
A source said Scott had decided it was time to focus on fighting Biden.
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Sen. Tim Scott will endorse Donald Trump at a rally in New Hampshire on Friday night, strengthening the former president’s grip on the 2024 Republican nomination.
After Monday’s landslide victory in Iowa, the Trump campaign intends to finish off its remaining opponents as quickly as possible and turn its attention to a general election showdown with President Joe Biden.
Now Trump has won the battle to secure the endorsement of Scott, who dropped out of the race in November.
The campaigns of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis had attempted to court the South Carolina senator.
A source familiar with the details confirmed that Scott would appear with Trump in New Hampshire.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks in front of President Donald Trump during a campaign rally during the 2020 campaign.
“He will fly to Palm Beach and then head to New Hampshire with the former president, at which time he will appear with the former president this afternoon to endorse him,” the source said.
“The deciding factor was that he has been talking to Trump for some time and they have a very good relationship.
“We have to focus on beating Joe Biden.”
The endorsement was first reported by the New York Times.
It’s a blow to Haley, whose political base is also South Carolina and who as governor nominated Scott to the Senate in 2012.
He needs a big boost if he wants to pull off an upset in the nation’s first primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for his campaign downplayed the twist.
“It’s interesting that Trump aligned himself with all the Washington insiders when he said he wanted to drain the swamp,” Olivia Pérez-Cubas told the Associated Press.
“But the guys are going to do what they’re going to do.”
Both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis courted Scott for his endorsement. They are struggling to stop the Trump juggernaut and Haley especially needs a strong result on Monday.
In 2012, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley appointed Scott to the United States Senate to represent the state.
She and DeSantis, who is largely skipping the northeastern state’s first primary, are understood to have spoken to Scott to try to win his endorsement.
The decision will intensify speculation that Trump could choose Scott as his running mate. The senator has a powerful fundraising machine and could help the former frontrunner make more inroads among Biden’s black support.
Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, delivered a message of optimism and unity. That made him stand out in a field that painted a dark picture of America under Biden.
His personal history of growing up poor gave him the kind of broad appeal that distinguished him as a contender.
But he never gained traction in the polls despite having a huge financial war chest, and he struggled to prevail in the first three Republican debates.
President Donald Trump introduced Vivek Ramaswamy to an ecstatic crowd in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Tuesday night at the end of a whirlwind 24 hours.
Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Concord on Friday night.
On Tuesday, he was joined on stage by tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped out less than 24 hours earlier after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa.
Now he will repeat the feat with his latest sponsor.
Democrats described the endorsement as another example of the spread of extreme MAGA ideology through the Republican Party.
“Tim Scott focused his own campaign on banning abortion nationwide, and now he’s endorsing Donald Trump because he knows Trump is a MAGA extremist like him, hell-bent on taking away women’s freedoms across America,” said Alex, rapid response director of the Democratic National Committee. Floyd.
“Scott’s endorsement of Donald Trump is just the latest example of MAGA extremism exerting total control over the Republican Party.”