What Sen. Tim Scott does and doesn't say about race in 2024 exploratory announcement

As he tiptoes closer to launching a 2024 White House bid, Republican Tim Scott released a video to his supporters this week that trumpeted his biography.

Scott, the lone Black Republican in the Senate, grew up poor, was raised by a single mother and is the grandson of man who had to drop out of third grade to pick cotton.

"I know America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression," he said in the video unveiling his exploratory committee for a presidential run.

That message strikes at the heart of how Scott plans to appeal to the country — and how he views the issue of race in America. The South Carolina lawmaker isn't offering voters a colorblind candidacy, but rather a belief in redemption rooted in his faith.

It echoed remarks Scott delivered during the GOP rebuttal to President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress in 2021.

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At the time, the South Carolina senator declared: "America is not a racist country," which was denunciated by Democratic critics and other progressives.

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That the 57-year-old lawmaker chose to unveil his intentions on the 162nd anniversary of the Civil War—and at Fort Sumter where the conflict's first shots were fired —also reveals how Scott sees the 2024 campaign taking shape.

He strikes a tone that seeks to uphold American idealism while aggressively confronting Democratic policies and views on race in a way that will appeal to GOP base voters plugged into culture war issues.

"America's soul was put to the test, and we prevailed," Scott said while passing a row of cannons. "Today our country is once again being tested."

Scott: 'This is personal to me'

Like many Black conservatives Scott has been on the receiving end of sharp criticism and name-calling.

In 2021, he was dragged across social media by Twitter users who used the term "uncle Tim"—a play on "uncle Tom" to describe a sellout—after he said the country wasn't racist.

While Scott didn't address that incident specifically, he said Democrats have often weaponized his race against him.

"When I fought back against their liberal agenda, they called me a prop, a token, because I disrupt their narrative," he said in the announcement video.

"I threaten their control," he added. "They know the truth of my life disproves their lies."

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The video continues a conversation Scott has been at the center of for years around race, where he has often talked about the country's past, current attitudes and how he's navigated them.

A Republican adviser close to the Scott campaign, who asked for anonymity in order to speak freely, told USA TODAY the senator is deeply conservative with evangelical roots, but that he's not a polarizing figure.

"The biography he has can connect with people who have never viewed themselves as Republicans," the source said. "He can say, 'hey, this is what conservatism really is about' in a way that's really powerful. Other messengers that come along, it's a bit of a different story."

Scott focuses on America's progress, but not 'colorblind' to its past

Much like other GOP presidential contenders, Scott goes after Democrats and accuses them of being the party that practices "grievance" politics.

In the exploratory announcement video, the senator said Biden and his allies promote "victimhood" over "personal responsibility." He goes as far to argue his political opponents are guilty of "indoctrinating our children to believe we live in an evil country." 

Scott has used many of the same lines his GOP counterparts have on the trail. He has evoked how "woke" companies appoint themselves decision-makers, and that "woke prosecutors and anti-cop activists" are responsible for violent crime.

Yet as a senator Scott has spoken openly about racism, admitting how it has negatively impacted his life. He described some of it in a series of Senate floor remarks in 2016.

In one of those speeches, Scott talked openly about “the humiliation” of being pulled over by police officers more than half a dozen times in one year.

"I do not know many African American men who do not have a very similar story to tell no matter their profession, no matter their income, no matter their disposition in life," he said.

At different times he has been involved in major legislative efforts attempting to tackle bias and discrimination through public policy, such as passing a landmark civil rights bill that made lynching a federal hate crime or the failed attempt at pursuing bipartisan police reform legislation in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

During those behind-the-scenes negotiations, Scott spoke about being "pulled over for simply having an improper headlight" at age 21 and how the officer called him "boy." 

Scott jabbed Trump on Charlottesville

If Scott officially enters the 2024 fray, he will eventually have to contend with the presumed front-runner: former President Donald Trump.

Unlike other GOP hopefuls, such as Nikki Haley and Mike Pence, Scott didn't work in the Trump administration which Republican strategists have told USA TODAY could be an asset in a crowded primary.

In terms of race relations, the GOP advisor to the campaign added how Scott has "historically" confronted Trump when necessary. He will again if there's a moment or issue that needs to be addressed, the source said.

In 2017, Scott said Trump's "moral authority" as president was "compromised" when the former reality TV star said that “many sides” were to blame for the violence during a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scott was blunt that he would work with Trump when they saw eye-to-eye, but that he would speak out when the two disagreed. 

After the two met to discuss Trump's response, Scott told USA TODAY at the time that he tried to put the comments "in a historical context" for the president to understand.

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"I certainly started my comments on why I found the president’s comments unsettling and went over his comments," Scott said in 2017.

The New York indictment may benefit Trump in the short term with GOP primary voters and his rivals who, including Scott, criticized the district attorney. But multiple polls show a growing numbers Americans are taking notice of his legal troubles and not in a good way.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll released this month show Trump’s unfavorable rating had climbed to 61%, up from 55% a week prior. Another April survey by Economist/YouGov showed Biden holding a slight edge in terms of favorability.

Whether or not Scott speaks out against Trump directly, in the wake of Charlottesville he took note of how Trump’s "coattails (were) shorter" as a result.

And as in other instances where racism was the topic, he spoke candidly about his views.

“Racism is real," Scott said in a 2017 interview with VICE News. "It is alive. It is here."