U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has announced that he is suspending his 2024 presidential campaign.
Scott made the announcement on Sunday, during an appearance on the Fox News Channel's Sunday Night in America with host Trey Gowdy.
"When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign," Scott said.
He added, "I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear — they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim.'"
Scott's announcement - that he is suspending his 2024 campaign - is surprising in that it was not expected to happen on Sunday during an interview with Fox. In fact, Fox reports, "a handful of campaign aides confirmed to Fox News that they were not given a heads-up on Scott's decision" to suspend his campaign.
But, in other ways, Scott's announcement was not that surprising. The simple fact is that Scott's campaign failed to gain any real traction. At the time of this writing, Real Clear Politics has Scott, on average, with only 2.5% support.
Scott, though, is not the only Republican candidate who has struggled to gain traction. In fact, anyone not named "Trump" has struggled to gain traction. Former President Donald Trump has dominated the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, outstripping his next closest competitor by a staggering 44.1 percentage points.
For this reason, many believe the Republican primary to already be decided.
If true, then it is only a matter of time before the other Republican candidates - not named "Trump" - join Scott in dropping out of the race.
During his Fox appearance, in addition to suspending his 2024 campaign, Scott also answered a question that has garnered a lot of attention - namely, the question of whether Scott would be interested in being Trump's running mate in 2024. The answer would appear to be "no."
"Being vice president has never been on my to-do list," Scott told Gowdy.
The other big question that Scott was asked was, now that he is dropping out of the race, will he be endorsing another candidate, and, if so, who? Many, of course, have already endorsed Trump, and many would have expected Scott to do the same. But, instead, he said that he will not be endorsing anyone.
"The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in," he said.
Trump, at the time of this writing, has not commented on Scott's decision to drop out of the running.
