Black Republican Sen. Tim Scott is suggesting that a leading Democrat referred to him as a “token” and is using the incident to raise money for his 2022 reelection campaign in South Carolina.
In a campaign fundraising email that circulated Thursday, Scott criticized Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin for calling his bid to overhaul police practices in the wake of George Floyd’s death a “token process.” The Illinois Democrat later apologized, but Scott said the comments “hurt me to my core.” He accused Democrats of being more interested in defeating President Trump and winning control of the Senate in November than reforming local law enforcement.
“As the only African American Republican U.S. senator, this is not the first time I have faced vicious attacks from Democrats,” Scott wrote in the money appeal. “I know the struggle and heartache that impacts communities of color all across the country.”
“Democrats like Sen. Durbin are more interested in scoring political points and getting soundbites on CNN or MSNBC,” Scott added. “They care more about the next election than making real progress toward policing reforms,” Scott wrote in the email money appeal. “We cannot allow Sen. Durbin’s partisanship and offensive words to go unanswered.”
Scott has been leading Republican efforts in Congress to pass police reform legislation that aims to prevent more deaths like Floyd’s. Floyd died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident led to a national outcry and demands for a law enforcement overhaul.
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats filibustered his bill — refusing even to allow the chamber to debate and amend the package while claiming that it does not sufficiently address the problems plaguing local law enforcement agencies. In his Senate floor remarks, Scott charged that Democrats were blocking the bill because they feared its passage might help Trump and diminish their prospects for winning control of the Senate this fall.
Scott had previously announced that his 2022 Senate campaign would be his last.
