Meet Tim Scott, the South Carolina senator and former GOP candidate who could become Trump’s pick for vice president

In his presidential campaign announcement speech, Scott described himself as being “raised in poverty in a single-parent household” in South Carolina.

After Scott’s parents divorced when he was 7 years old, he, his mother, and his two brothers moved in with his maternal grandparents.

During high school, Scott worked at a movie theater and often ordered fries for lunch from Chick-fil-A since he couldn’t afford the sandwiches, he wrote in a 2016 post on Medium. The owner of the Chick-fil-A restaurant, John Moniz, eventually became a mentor to Scott and helped shape his views on “business and conservative principles,” Scott wrote.

Scott attended Presbyterian College on a partial football scholarship, where he joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and became a devout Christian, according to his official website.

He owned an insurance agency before his election to Charleston County Council, where he served from 1995 to 2009. He then served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2009 to 2011.

Scott became the first Black Republican to serve in the House of Representatives in over a century, CNN reported.

When South Carolina senator Jim DeMint vacated his seat, Scott’s historic appointment made him the first Black Republican in the Senate in over 30 years and the first Black senator elected from the South since the Reconstruction era. He remains the only Black Republican in the Senate.

“My skin color is talked about often. Tonight I want to talk about it for just a moment,” Scott wrote in a series of posts on X, then known as Twitter, in 2012. “In South Carolina, in America, it takes a generation to go from having a grandfather who is picking cotton, to a grandson in Congress. We are thankful for those trailblazers who came before us and said the status quo was not enough. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Our values and our issues are central. The most important things we have to offer are on the inside. This is a testament to progress made.”

Scott also serves on the Senate Foreign Relations, Finance, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees, as well as the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

In 2017, he helped write and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the first significant update to US tax code in over 30 years, according to the senator’s official website.

“This is the freest, fairest land where you can go as high as your character and your grit and your talent will take you,” Scott said in his announcement speech. “I bear witness to that. I testify to that. That’s why I’m the candidate the far left fears the most.”

With $20 million left over from his Senate reelection campaign, Scott started his presidential run in a strong financial position.

Scott, 58, has never been married and does not have children — a fact that concerned voters and donors in the conservative party.

“It’s like a different form of discrimination or bias,” Scott told the Washington Post in September of criticism of his relationship status. “You can’t say I’m Black, because that would be terrible, so find something else that you can attack.”

While he occasionally mentioned a girlfriend in interviews on the campaign trail, his relationship didn’t become public until after the third primary debate, when he brought her onstage.

Scott’s girlfriend was identified as Mindy Noce, an interior designer based in Charleston.

Scott announced his engagement to Noce in January, telling the Washington Post they met through church and had been dating for about a year.

“I’ve been very patient and prayerful, and I’m really excited and somewhat nervous, and I couldn’t be more thankful for having found a soul mate and someone who shares a lot of the same interests, passions, and goals that I do,” he said.

Noce has three children from a previous marriage.

Amid low poll numbers, speculation about his love life, and unsuccessful attempts to challenge Trump’s hold over the GOP, Scott dropped out of the presidential race.

“I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim,'” he told Fox News in November.

Scott made several appearances with Trump in New Hampshire ahead of the primary, which Trump went on to win.

Scott told The Wall Street Journal that his and Trump’s styles are “incredibly different” but “very complementary.”

In an interview with Fox News in February, Trump named Scott as a potential 2024 running mate.

“He’s a respected guy,” Trump said. “But he ran and he did fine, and then when he got out he endorsed me and he’s a surrogate. He’s the greatest surrogate I’ve ever seen.”

Trump has also floated Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tulsi Gabbard as potential vice presidential candidates.