ANDERSON, S.C. – A microphone in hand, Sen. Tim Scott left the podium at a recent barbecue event in South Carolina and made his manner via tables draped in crimson, white and blue as attendees completed plates of pulled red meat and baked beans.
As he mentioned his marketing campaign, Scott handed Casey DeSantis, the first girl of Florida, who appeared forward at the empty level from which she would quickly talk. She was once there rather than her husband, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was once overseeing the response to Hurricane Idalia.
Several hours previous, former Gov. Nikki Haley packed an tournament corridor about 130 miles to the northeast. An overflow crowd spilled out into the again hallways, with some folks having to observe her remarks on a video observe.
The flurry of task confirmed the precedence those 3 campaigns are striking on South Carolina, where the Republican primary is historically the final probability for many White House hopefuls to wreck via ahead of Super Tuesday. If former President Donald Trump maintains his front-runner status right here and in the different early vote casting states, his path to the GOP nomination could also be just about unimaginable to forestall.
In all however one number one since 1980, the Republican winner in South Carolina has long past directly to be the celebration’s nominee.
Both in the state and nationally, Trump is a ways forward in the Republican box. Battling for a far-off moment position are the two home-state candidates — Scott and Haley — and DeSantis. A July ballot from Fox Business discovered that Scott, Haley and DeSantis each and every drew double digits, however Trump nonetheless led by way of greater than 30 issues.
Scott and Haley face added power given the conventional expectation for a presidential candidate to win their house state. But they might also splinter any conventional house turf edge in South Carolina, which might permit DeSantis to relegate them to a doubtlessly embarrassing 3rd and even fourth position.
“In a split vote like this, you can’t help but think that Donald Trump has the natural advantage over everybody else because he just has to win one more vote than second place,” stated Dave Wilson, a conservative political strategist in the state.
Several electorate taking into account their choices variously praised and criticized the 3 second-place contenders, reflecting how splintered the box is.
“We’ve got a lot of good ones,” stated Debra Donnan, a 52-year-old former postal employee from the town of Laurens. “I don’t exactly know. I’m just watching and learning.”
Donnan stated she thinks each Trump and DeSantis have a nice shot, however that Scott does, too.
“Don’t discount him,” she stated of Scott. “He is a great American. He is very strong in his belief system, and he is not a wimpy person.”
Haley, in the meantime, drew reward from Irene Gatton, a 78-year-old retired nurse, as “very down to earth” and “intelligent.”
South Carolina’s institutional fortify is at the back of Trump. He’s locked up endorsements from Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster, who was once lieutenant governor ahead of Trump picked Haley as his United Nations ambassador — one thing Trump has claimed McMaster requested him to do.
On the July 4 weekend, Trump drew a massive crowd of tens of thousands to tiny Pickens, South Carolina, a feat no different candidate has matched.
He has executed a ways fewer occasions total and skipped the first presidential debate, a choice criticized by way of electorate at different candidates’ occasions. But Trump stays the best political determine in the celebration and has saved a robust status with Republicans, whilst he faces 4 felony indictments.
Speaking at the “Faith & Freedom BBQ” final week in South Carolina’s Upstate area — invited to talk now not as a White House hopeful however as a sitting house state senator — Scott stated his marketing campaign was once “focusing on restoring hope, creating opportunity and protecting the America we all love.” He said that includes supporting law enforcement, finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall and giving parents more choices in their children’s education.
He was followed by Casey DeSantis. From Florida — where he remained, in lieu of delivering the keynote address as had been planned, to help his state prepare for Hurricane Idalia — Ron DeSantis recorded a three-minute introduction video that got roars from the crowd. Casey DeSantis gave familiar one-liners about her children and raising a family in the Florida governor’s mansion.
But she also hit hard at President Joe Biden. She pledged that her husband would be a president “who helps the children in the White House with homework instead of cocaine.” That was once a connection with the drugs found earlier this year in the White House, in addition to the public substance abuse struggles of Biden’s son, Hunter.
Haley didn’t appear at the barbecue but instead packed an earlier event in Indian Land, a small community near Charlotte, North Carolina. She seemed to be in an especially good mood as she spoke, buoyed by her first debate performance, in which she sharply criticized rival Vivek Ramaswamy on foreign policy and pointedly noted on an otherwise all-male stage that “if you want something done, ask a woman.”
At her town hall, she went after Ramaswamy again with a double-edged Southerner’s barb that drew appreciative laughter: “Bless his heart.”
“I know I wear a skirt,” she said. “But y’all see me at work. If you say something that is totally off the wall, I’m going to call you out on it every single time.”
During their overlapping years as Republican officeholders in South Carolina, Haley and Scott largely appealed to many of the same voters. They’ve both won every statewide race in which they’ve competed, although Scott has not ever faced significant Democratic opposition in the state, which hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in almost two decades.
“I think Tim Scott could be a good vice president, but he said he didn’t want to,” said retired engineer Huley Shumpert from Pelion.
The 76-year-old was with his wife, Brenda Shumpert, at the barbecue. The couple were undecided about who they would support as the GOP nominee, but both said they preferred Scott to stay in the Senate.
Shumpert said she could envision Haley as a running mate for Trump or DeSantis, but the retired media specialist said she wouldn’t support Haley for president because of a high-profile decision dating back to her second term as governor.
Haley had long resisted calls to remove the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds — even casting a rival’s push to do so as a desperate stunt. But she reversed course in 2015 and advocated that the flag come down following the racist slaying of nine Black churchgoers all through a Bible find out about in Charleston.
“Nikki was our governor, and she took down the Confederate flag, which to us is important,” Brenda Shumpert said. “(There’s) historical significance in that.”
Haley won over several locals who attended her event, including Gail Peplinski, a 71-year-old retired executive assistant. Before the Aug. 23 debate, Peplinski had been leaning toward supporting Trump.
But Haley is “no-nonsense” and “doesn’t just talk a lot of fluff,” she said.
Rick Satterfield was walking out with Peplinski and said he thinks Haley won the debate though DeSantis did well. But in praising Haley, Satterfield also also captured a dynamic Haley and Scott are running to change — to be seen as the front-runner and not a runner-up.
“Even if she doesn’t make president, I think she’d be a great vice president, because then she could run in four years if it’s Trump,” he stated.