Timothy Eugene Scott, otherwise known as Senator Tim Scott is an African-American Republican and businessman. Since 2013, he has been a junior senator in the United States. Governor Nikki Haley, then Governor of South Carolina, appointed him to the Senate after Jim DeMint retired.
Later, in 2014, he won a special election and was elected to a full term in 2016. From 1996 to 2008, Scott served on the Charleston County Council. A year later, beginning in 2009, he served a term in the South Carolina General Assembly ending in 2011.
In 2010, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina’s First Congressional District. He served from 2011 to 2013. He was the first African-American Republican United States Representative from South Carolina since 1897. Scott has been one of three African-Americans in the United States Senate since January 2017. The other two are Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. They are both Democrats. Booker from New Jersey and Harris is from California.
Senator Tim Scott is the first Southern African-American senator to be selected since 1881. Also, since the departure of Edward Brooke in 1979, he is the first African-American Republican to serve in the United States Senate.
Who is Senator Tim Scott?
Tim Scott was born September 19, 1965, Frances and Ben Scott Sr. in North Charleston, South Carolina. His parents divorced when he was seven years old. He and his two brothers had to live with their mother because their father was stationed with the Air Force in Colorado for most of their childhood.
He grew up in a household where his mother worked 16-hour shifts as a nurse’s aide, doing her best to provide for her family. Scott supported his family by working part-time at a Chick-fil-A franchise while struggling to maintain his grades in high school.
Franchise owner John Moniz became Scottmentor. He taught Scott to believe that he could use his problem-solving skills and intelligence to succeed in life. Moniz died of a heart attack when Scott was in his senior year of high school. After that, Scott focused on the inspirational idea of Moniz, to come to terms with the loss. He pushed himself, he believed. By the time it was time for Scott to graduate, his grades were good and he had done well enough in football to earn a partial scholarship to attend Presbyterian College.
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He attended college from 1983 to 1984 before moving to Charleston Southern University where he earned a B.Sc. in political science in 1988. Before entering politics, Scott became the owner of the Tim Scott Allstate Insurance Company, the one of the most successful Allstate branches in its home country. He has an older brother who is a Sergeant Major in the US Army and a younger brother who is a Colonel in the US Airforce.
Scott got into politics in 1995 when he ran for Charleston County Council and won. He won with nearly 80% of the vote. He won under the Republican Party. Scott served on the board from 1995 to 2008. He became chairman in 2007. From 2009 to 2010, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. From 2011 to 2013, he served in the United States House of Representatives. And he’s been a U.S. senator from South Carolina since 2013.
The Tea Party convention in Myrtle Beach in January 2013 greeted the young senator with a hero’s welcome. He gave a speech that day. During his speech, he opposed any changes to President Barack Obama’s Second Amendment. He told Obama, “You can’t use an executive order to amend the second gun amendment.” Additionally, he addressed his predominantly Caucasian audience in reaction to the NAACP.
In November 2014, Scott won a special election held so that he could hold his Senate seat through January 2017 and Scott thus became the first African American elected to both bodies of Congress.
Five facts you need to know about Senator Tim Scott
- Timothy Scott is the first black Republican elected to the Charleston County City Council and State House.
- Tim is a devout evangelical Christian and this has played a big part in influencing his ideological leanings.
- In terms of wealth and assets, Tim is one of the “poorest” members of the US Senate. Although there are discrepancies on his actual net worth, some sources say he has $710,000 in debt due to multiple mortgages.
- In May 1997, while a Charleston City Council member, he posted the Ten Commandments outside the council building, which earned him some criticism. After a complaint was filed, a judge ruled it unconstitutional.
- Tim Scott is single and when he joined politics at 30, he was still a virgin. In 2011, he admitted he was no longer a virgin. He would have had a relationship with Zee Patel, manager of a lingerie store.