South-Carolina
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott Abruptly Ends 2024 Presidential Bid
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott abruptly announced late Sunday that he was dropping out of the 2024 race, a development that surprised his donors and stunned his campaign staff just two months before the start of voting in Iowa’s leadoff GOP caucuses.
The South Carolina senator, who entered the race in May with high hopes, made the surprise announcement on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America” with Trey Gowdy, one of his closest friends. The news was so unanticipated that one campaign worker told The Associated Press that campaign staff found out Scott was dropping out by watching the show.
“I love America more today than I did on May 22,” Scott said Sunday. “But when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign. I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim.’”
Scott’s impending departure comes as he and the rest of the GOP field have struggled in a race that has been dominated by former President Donald Trump.
Despite four criminal indictments and a slew of other legal challenges, Trump continues to poll far ahead of his rivals, leading many in the party to conclude the race is effectively over, barring some stunning change of fortune.
Scott, in particular, has had trouble gaining traction in the polls, despite millions spent on his behalf by high-profile donors. In his efforts to run a positive campaign, he was often overshadowed by other candidates — particularly on the debate stage, where he seemed to disappear as others sparred. It was unclear whether Scott would qualify for the upcoming fourth debate, which will require higher polling numbers and more donors.
Scott is the second major candidate to leave the race since the end of October. Former Vice President Mike Pence suspended his campaign two weeks ago, announcing at a Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas, “This is not my time.” Pence, however, was polling behind Scott and was in a far more precarious financial position.
Scott said he wouldn’t immediately be endorsing any of his remaining Republican rivals.
“The voters are really smart,” Scott said. “The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in on who they should endorse.”
He also appeared to rule out serving as vice president, saying the No. 2 slot “has never been on my to-do list for this campaign, and it’s certainly not there now.”
Scott’s departure leaves Nikki Haley, Trump’s first United Nations ambassador and the former South Carolina governor, as the sole South Carolinian in the race.
As governor, Haley appointed Scott — then newly elected to his second U.S. House term — to the Senate in 2012, and the fact that both were in the 2024 race had created an uncomfortable situation for many of the donors and voters who had supported them both through the years.
It also sparked some unpleasant on-stage moments during the first three GOP debates, with the longtime allies — who for a time had also shared political consultants — trading tense jabs. After the surprise announcement, some of Scott’s donors said they would be switching to back Haley in the primary.
In a post on X on Sunday night, Haley called Scott “a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many,” adding that the GOP primary “was made better by his participation in it.”
Scott’s team was so surprised by his exit that just 13 minutes before he announced his departure, his campaign sent out an email soliciting supporters for donations to further Scott’s “strong leadership and optimistic, positive vision to lead our country forward.” Saying that “EVERYTHING is on the line” to win the White House, the email went on offering readers “ONE LAST CHANCE to donate this weekend and help Tim reach his campaign goal.”
Campaign staffers expressed their extreme irritation to the AP in light of the candidate recently shifting staff and money from New Hampshire to Iowa in an effort to boost his standing in the leadoff caucus.
A senior staffer characterized the experience as incredibly frustrating, saying that staff had been working around the clock to accommodate the move, only to completely reverse it. A
s with the campaign worker who said Scott’s staff found out about his departure by watching the senator on TV, the worker was not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Many donors were surprised and saddened by Scott’s announcement, though they praised him for stepping aside to give Republicans a chance to coalesce behind a Trump alternative.
Eric Levine, a New York-based donor who was raising money for Scott, said he was caught totally off guard.
“He stepped aside with dignity. He is a true patriot. I could not have been prouder to have supported him,” said Levine, a vocal Trump critic. He said he would now be supporting Haley.
“She is our last best hope to defeat Donald Trump and then take back the White House,” Levine said.
Chad Walldorf, a South Carolina businessman and longtime Scott supporter and donor, thought Scott’s decision was in the best interest of the Republican Party.
“I’ve always thought the field needs to winnow quickly so we can get behind a good alternative to Trump, so I greatly respect Tim for unselfishly stepping aside rather than waiting until too late,” said Walldorf, who added he’s now backing Haley.
Mikee Johnson, a South Carolina businessman and Scott donor who served as his national finance co-chairman, told the AP that he knew before Scott’s TV appearance that he would be suspending his campaign.
“He is honorable, knows his supporters were prepared to support him for the duration, and was not going to ask that of his friends and supporters,” said Johnson. “He is energized and ready for the next phase. … I told him I did not have a single regret.”
Many of Scott’s former 2024 rivals issued statements Sunday night wishing him well.
On social media, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis commended him as a “strong conservative with bold ideas about how to get our country back on track,” adding, “I respect his courage to run this campaign and thank him for his service to America and the U.S. Senate.”
Pence called Scott “a man of faith and integrity who brought his optimistic vision and inspiring personal story to people all across this country.”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to news of Scott’s exit. But Trump has been careful not to criticize the senator, leading some in his orbit to consider Scott a potential vice presidential pick.
The former president and his team had welcomed a large field of rivals, believing they would splinter the anti-Trump vote and prevent a clear challenger from emerging.
Scott’s next move is not clear. He has said that his 2022 Senate reelection would be his last and has at times been mentioned as a possible candidate for South Carolina governor, which is next up in 2026. Gov. Henry McMaster, a Trump backer, is term-limited, and the GOP primary is expected to be heated.
Wildfires continued to rage in North and South Carolina on Thursday, leading to states of emergency and evacuations as firefighters deployed from other parts of the US to help bring the blazes under control.
In North Carolina, progress was being made in containing two of the largest wildfires burning in the mountains, but officials warned that fire danger remained from dry and windy conditions.
The news was worse in South Carolina, where two fires nearly doubled in size on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people have been asked to leave their homes in the two states as a half-dozen large fires burn in the Blue Ridge mountains, spreading smoke into places like Greenville, a city of about 70,000 people in South Carolina.
Wednesday’s dry weather led to several new fires in western North Carolina and prompted the state’s governor, Josh Stein, to declare a state of emergency in 34 western counties. At least nine fires were active in that part of the state, officials said.
Quick Guide
US wildfire terms, explained
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Acres burned
US wildfires are measured in terms of acres. While the size of a wildfire doesn’t necessarily correlate to its destructive impact, acreage provides a way to understand a fire’s footprint and how quickly it has grown.
There are 2.47 acres in a hectare, and 640 acres in a square mile, but this can be hard to visualise. Here are some easy comparisons: one acre equates to roughly the size of an American football field. London’s Heathrow airport is about 3,000 acres. Manhattan covers roughly 14,600 acres, while Chicago is roughly 150,000 acres, and Los Angeles is roughly 320,000 acres.
Megafire
A megafire is defined by the National Interagency Fire Center as a wildfire that has burned more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares).
Containment level
A wildfire’s containment level indicates how much progress firefighters have made in controlling the fire. Containment is achieved by creating perimeters the fire can’t move across. This is done through methods such as putting fire retardants on the ground, digging trenches, or removing brush and other flammable fuels.
Containment is measured in terms of the percentage of the fire that has been surrounded by these control lines. A wildfire with a low containment level, such as 0% or 5%, is essentially burning out of control. A fire with a high level of containment, such as 90%, isn’t necessarily extinguished but rather has a large protective perimeter and a rate of growth that is under control.
Evacuation orders and warnings
Evacuation warnings and orders are issued by officials when a wildfire is causing imminent danger to people’s life and property. According to the California office of emergency services, an evacuation warning means that it’s a good idea to leave an area or get ready to leave soon. An evacuation order means that you should leave the area immediately.
Red flag warning
A red flag warning is a type of forecast issued by the National Weather Service that indicates when weather conditions are likely to spark or spread wildfires. These conditions typically include dryness, low humidity, high winds and heat.
Prescribed burn
A prescribed burn, or a controlled burn, is a fire that is intentionally set under carefully managed conditions in order to improve the health of a landscape. Prescribed burns are carried out by trained experts such as members of the US Forest Service and Indigenous fire practitioners. Prescribed burns help remove flammable vegetation and reduce the risk of larger, more catastrophic blazes, among other benefits.
Prescribed burning was once a common tool among Native American tribes who used “good fire” to improve the land, but was limited for much of the last century by a US government approach based on fire suppression. In recent years, US land managers have returned to embracing the benefits of prescribed burns, and now conduct thousands across the country every year.
The so-called Black Cove complex fire is currently the highest-priority wildfire in the US, according to an update from the North Carolina department of agriculture, with hundreds of firefighters working to battle the flames. States such as Oregon have already sent dozens of firefighters to assist with the efforts, deploying an additional 11 people on Wednesday.
The fires are burning in an area that were hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. Millions of fallen trees from that storm are both providing fuel for the wildfires and hindering firefighters’ use of logging roads and paths.
The North Carolina forest service said that the Black Cove fire and the Deep Woods fire were each more than 10% contained on Wednesday night, after days of reporting zero containment for the two blazes. The fires have scorched nearly 6,400 acres (2,590 hectares) combined, but the size of the area burned has largely remained the same since the previous day.
Firefighters have managed to save most of the structures near the fires. Only one injury has been reported: a firefighter in North Carolina got his leg caught under a tree, officials said.
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There is rain in the forecast for the weekend, but it isn’t the kind of soaking downpour that can knock a fire out on its own, said the National Weather Service meteorologist Ashley Rehnberg in Greer, South Carolina.
“Hopefully that will at least calm things down briefly,” Rehnberg said.
The bright spot in the forecast for the next week is there is not expected to be an especially dangerous day when winds and dry weather reach potentially disastrous levels like they did in Los Angeles in January or Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in 2016.
Forestry agencies in North Carolina and South Carolina are already figuring out how to rotate teams of firefighters into and out of the mountains for what could be a long fight.
The fires in South Carolina were caused by humans. Authorities from local fire chiefs all the way to South Carolina’s governor are urging people to heed burn bans in both states and stop setting fires at campsites or burning garbage.
“We have people going out in the woods and in their back yards and starting fires when the wind is blowing and everything is dry,” said South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster. “We just have to use common sense. People get out in nature and they forget how dangerous it can be.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
The widespread damage and loss of life caused by Tropical Storm Helene was unprecedented. The storm’s impact on the Upstate is still being felt — and will be for years to come.
Here are some numbers that illustrate the storm’s magnitude and devastation:
50: Number of fatalities in South Carolina as a result of the storm.
21.66: Inches of rain measured at Sunfish Mountain in Greenville, the highest total in the state.
77: Wind gusts, by miles per hour, recorded in Laurens County, the highest in South Carolina.
22: Sites in South Carolina that experienced record river flooding.
1.3 million: Homes without power in South Carolina during and after Helene.
2,500: Homes in the state that were destroyed or sustained significant damage due to the storm.
3 million: Total debris, in cubic yards, collected by the South Carolina Department of Transportation as of January 29. This does not include debris removed from county-maintained roads. Crews with Greenville County, for example, have collected 1.1 million yards.
1.3 million: Homes without power in South Carolina during and after Helene.
(Sources: the SCDOT, the SC Forestry Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
On Wednesday, several South Carolina football players spoke to the media after practice. Among them were a pair of linebackers, sophomore Fred “JayR” Johnson and transfer portal redshirt freshman Justin Okoronkwo.
Okoronkwo was up first, and after a week of practicing alongside Johnson, the former Alabama Crimson Tide ‘backer sang his new teammate’s praises. “Fred Johnson is a crazy athlete. He’s fast, he’s physical. He’s got everything that a linebacker needs,” Okoronkwo said.
At 6-3 and 244 pounds with elite speed for the position, Okoronkwo’s assessment is correct. The quote of praise also matches what others have said about Johnson during his brief time as a Gamecock.
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He played a lot of special teams for the 2024 version of the South Carolina football team but was behind NFL Draft hopefuls like Demetrius Knight, Bam Martin-Scott, and Debo Williams, specifically listed as the backup to Knight at the Mike linebacker spot. His snaps on defense were limited, but all year, coaches and players praised his athletic profile and improving mental understanding of the game.
Knight called Johnson’s potential “off the charts” and praised his “sponge”-like willingness to learn and better himself. Ahead of Citrus Bowl practice, Williams went as far as to say he “expect[s] nothing but the best” for Johnson’s career. All-American safety Nick Emmanwori says he remembers the young defender making a lot of “woah” plays at practice last season.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White has lauded Johnson’s athleticism and work ethic this offseason. According to the South Carolina DC, if he “keep[s] grinding every day, and then [he] will be great.”
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Both Johnson and Okoronkwo expect to factor into the starting linebacker battles this spring and summer. They will be joined by Shawn Murphy–another transfer who spent some time at Alabama–and returner Jaron Willis. Incoming freshmen Donovan Darden, Taeshawn Alston, AJ Holloway, and Josh Smith will join with former walk-ons Ronnie Porter and Colin Bryant in the linebacker competition, too.
Despite having to replace three high-level players from last year’s room, Johnson is confident in USC’s current crop of linebackers. During his media availability on Monday, Johnson said that this year’s group still has a high level of “speed and strength.” He complimented Murphy’s knowledge and understanding of defensive football and Okoronkwo’s physical gifts.
Johnson added that he’s confident in his own abilities to be a big part of the team’s linebacker success. He said that he will be holding himself to an “expectation of dominance,” a standard also held by his predecessors. Last season, Williams, Knight, and Martin-Scott played and led with confidence. If Johnson and company can replicate that attitude in 2025, the South Carolina defense can be special once again.
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