SC’s Tim Scott finds support for White House? Voters talk ahead of Fox News’ town hall
Terry Goheen has already voted for Donald Trump twice, and plans to again in 2024 if the former president is back on the ballot.
If that happens, the Longs resident hopes U.S. Sen. Tim Scott shares the ticket.
“I think he would really support Trump as a VP, that’s my overall view. But I still wanted to see him and ask some questions,” Goheen said. “I think he would complement him greatly. He’d be a great help to Trump.”
Goheen was among the first in line June 20 at the John T. Rhodes Sports Center in Myrtle Beach, where South Carolina’s junior senator sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity for the taping of a town hall style meeting to boost his national profile weeks after rolling out his presidential campaign.
Robin Jobes, who splits her time between Ohio and Myrtle Beach, wants to hear Scott take a tough crime stance when it comes to border security and government spending.
A strong performance, she said, could push her out of the undecided camp and into Scott’s.
“If he comes across in a good light and has answers to questions that people are asking,” Jobes said. “I don’t want answers that are off putting.”
The primetime appearance — which was slated to air at 9 p.m. June 20 — put Scott in front of nearly 3 million viewers who watch Hannity’s nightly broadcast. A Fox News official told The Sun News that 1,700 tickets were claimed for the event.
Scott, 57, boasts nearly a $22 million war chest and is jockeying for position among a crowded slate of big-name GOP contenders including former UN ambassador and one-time Trump confidante Nikki Haley, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and conservative pundit Chris Christie.
Although Scott is tracking between 1% and 2% in early presidential preference polls, some Republican voters believe his brand of conservatism and views on racial equality elevate his brand.
Scott is one of 11 Black people to serve in the U.S. Senate, and the only one to have held seats in both chambers of Congress.
“He’s a Black man who looks at things, I think, the proper way. And that makes him a minority within even his own community,” said Frank Quinlan, who drove 200 miles from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to attend the town hall.
This story was originally published June 20, 2023 at 5:06 PM.