South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will appoint a new senator to take the seat of GOP senator Jim DeMint, who was reelected in 2010 and will be resigning early next year to become president of the Heritage Foundation. Sources in South Carolina say Haley will pick Charleston-area congressman Tim Scott, and, if not him, state representative Ralph Norman is considered the next most likely candidate for the job.

The governor’s office released a statement Monday afternoon stating that Haley will not appoint someone as a “placeholder” and will instead choose someone who intends to run for the seat in 2014 to fill the remainder of DeMint’s term, which ends in 2017.