Scott files to appear on SC Republican primary ballot

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) – South Carolina’s First in the South Republican primary is a little over four months away, but another important deadline for candidates is coming up in just two weeks: the deadline to file to get their names on the ballot.

Candidates have until Oct. 31 to file paperwork and pay a $50,000 fee — $20,000 of which goes to the South Carolina Election Commission, per state law, and the rest of which goes to the South Carolina Republican Party — to ensure voters see their name on the ballot on Feb. 24.

On Monday, the first of South Carolina’s homegrown candidates completed that step.

Sen. Tim Scott held a filing event and lunchtime meet-and-greet at Doc’s BBQ in Columbia.

After signing his paperwork alongside SCGOP Chair Drew McKissick and handing over a check with the requisite fee, Scott chatted and posed for photos with supporters.

The latest poll from Winthrop University, released earlier this month, indicates Scott still has a lot of ground to make up in his home state, polling in fourth place at a little less than 6% among South Carolina Republican voters.

Meanwhile, fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, the state’s former governor, has leapfrogged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to take over second place in that poll with 16.6%, still a wide margin behind the 50.5% of respondents saying they back former President Donald Trump, who has maintained his sizable lead for months.

Candidates have another opportunity to get their messages out to voters in three weeks, when the third Republican debate will be held in Miami. As of Monday, Scott had yet to meet the polling or fundraising requirements to appear on the stage.

“We will see you in Miami,” Scott told reporters Monday.

He also responded to concerns about his lagging poll numbers.

“The harder we work, the luckier we get,” Scott said. “I am so excited to be home in South Carolina. We continue to have a positive message. Hope and opportunity goes a long way. We need a candidate who will restore hope, create opportunities, and unite our country, and I thank God I’m that candidate.”

Scott’s supporters remain optimistic his numbers can turn around.

“I think the Lord’s going to have to work in mysterious ways, but I think it’s very possible,” Jim Hawkins of Lexington said. “I think once people really know what he stands for and see his positive ad campaigns and the more people that meet him in person and see what he’s doing, the more support he will garner.”

The chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party expressed doubts in a statement released ahead of Scott’s filing.

“Tim Scott has spent every minute of his MAGA presidential run pledging to bring nationwide the same failures he’s dealt to South Carolinians in the Senate — including campaigning on signing a national abortion ban, extending Donald Trump’s 2017 tax scam, and supporting Tommy Tuberville’s military blockade that’s undermining our national security. South Carolina voters know Scott is just as extreme and out of touch as the rest of the 2024 GOP field and are fired up to reject him in February,” SCDP Chair Christale Spain said in a statement.

Scott joins Trump, DeSantis, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy among the Republicans who have already filed to appear on the ballot for the Feb. 24 primary.

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