Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sang South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s praises for his response to President Joe Biden’s first speech to Congress, floating him as a 2024 White House candidate.
“The part that made the most history tonight: This will be the first time the response has upstaged the president,” McCarthy said on Fox News Wednesday night. “People are going to start talking tomorrow that Tim Scott should be running for president. Could you imagine him on the debate stage versus Joe Biden? It’s not even close.”
In the Republican response to Biden’s first joint address to Congress on Wednesday evening, Scott declared that the U.S. is “not a racist country” and countered Biden’s assertion that voting rights are “being attacked.”
“The state of Georgia passed a law that expands early voting, preserves no-excuse mail-in voting, and, despite what the president claimed, did not reduce Election Day hours,” Scott said.
TIM SCOTT SAYS ‘AMERICA IS NOT A RACIST COUNTRY’ IN REBUTTAL TO BIDEN SPEECH
Scott received widespread praise for his speech, with many noting that the rebuttal to the president is a traditionally tough task that scars some politicians with embarrassing moments — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had an awkward water break during his response in 2013, for instance.
The scaled-down nature of Biden’s address due to the coronavirus pandemic, with only 200 people in the sparsely filled House chamber, created an environment some lawmakers called “muted” and “low energy” — likely aiding Scott.
“When Tim, who is a close personal friend, tells that story of his grandfather, who has his two grandsons at the kitchen table every day, and that newspaper in front of him — only years later did Tim find out his grandfather could not read but wanted a better life for his grandsons because he knew that’s what America meant,” McCarthy said, “And now, Tim Scott is the first black American ever to be elected to Congress and the Senate.”
In another Fox News interview Thursday morning, Scott brushed off a question about any presidential ambitions.
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“I’ve said it often that I’m not running for the presidency of my own homeowner’s association, without much of a question, much less thinking about the highest office in the land,” Scott said. “I do, however, want to be reelected as South Carolina’s junior senator.”
Scott is up for reelection in 2022.
