Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) formally announced his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, and Washington Post reporter Ben Terris chose that moment to reflect on asking the unmarried senator whether he is a virgin.
Terris used the moment in part to sell his upcoming book — “The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind” — and shared a brief anecdote about Scott on Twitter.
“Tim Scott will be the first prez candidate I’ve ever asked about the status of his virginity. Initial answer: ‘I’m not talking about my sex life with Ben Terris.’ Then he stood up and said: ‘I have to go potty,'” Terris tweeted.
(It wasn’t a completely random question. He had spent his young adult life preaching abstinence until marriage. He’d give talks and mention that he was saving himself until marriage, and during my interview with the then-congressman he was, and continues to be unmarried.)
— Ben Terris (@bterris) May 22, 2023
Terris went on to explain that he had only asked the question because Scott has always been a vocal proponent of abstinence outside of marriage. And since Scott has never been married himself, he wanted to know whether the senator – who was then still a congressman – had followed his own advice.
“(It wasn’t a completely random question. He had spent his young adult life preaching abstinence until marriage. He’d give talks and mention that he was saving himself until marriage, and during my interview with the then-congressman he was, and continues to be unmarried),” Terris added.
He followed that up with a plug for his book – and went on to explain further that he had done his best to try to make the conversation less awkward.
One more thing… It was such an awkward question to ask that I wrote myself a script: You used to preach about the virtue of no sex until marriage… is that a virtue that you still adhere to today?”
Ultimately he implied he did not.
“I just wish we all had more patience.”
— Ben Terris (@bterris) May 22, 2023
“One more thing … It was such an awkward question to ask that I wrote myself a script: ‘You used to preach about the virtue of no sex until marriage … is that a virtue that you still adhere to today?’ Ultimately he implied he did not: ‘I just wish we all had more patience,'” he quoted Scott as answering.
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Newsbusters executive editor Tim Graham responded to Terris with a question of his own, tweeting, “Dear Ben, did you ever ask Bill Clinton how many interns he nailed? Of course not. Ben Terris (D-Washington Post).”