South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has filed paperwork to run for president of the United States, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.
The filing comes ahead of Scott’s formal announcement, expected to take place on Monday in South Carolina, according to CNN.
Scott will enter the presidential race with about $22 million cash on hand, according to The New York Times. He has so far lagged in the polls, hovering around 2% and far behind the leading GOP primary contender, former President Donald Trump.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is also leading Scott by a significant margin, though DeSantis has yet to officially enter the race for the White House.
After his official campaign launch, Scott is expected to travel to Iowa and New Hampshire, the sites of the first two GOP primary contests. Scott has reserved a roughly $6 million ad buy to run in both states starting next week, according to Axios. The ads are scheduled to run through the first GOP presidential debate scheduled for August.
Scott has signaled his interest in making a White House run for months. In his public remarks, he has delivered an optimistic message that plays off his own background, coming from poverty to being the first black senator from South Carolina.
“Americans are losing one of the most inspirational truths we have, which is hope — hope that things can and will get better, hope that education and hard work can equal prosperity, hope that we remain a city on a hill, a shining example of what can be when free people decide to join hands in self-governance,” Scott said last year in a speech at the Reagan Library.
“America stands at a crossroads,” he said, “with the potential for a great resetting, a renewal, even a rebirth — where we get to choose how we will meet the potential of today and the promise of tomorrow.”
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Scott’s FEC filing propels him into a growing crowd of GOP contenders that also includes talk radio host Larry Elder, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolin Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur and woke capital crusader Vivek Ramaswamy.