Senator Tim Scott made official what had been obvious for a while now. He will not be elected president of the United States in 2024, and he withdrew from the race.

“Suspend the campaign” is the official term for it. Tim Scott made the announcement on Trey Gowdy’s show on Fox News.

“I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim,’” Scott said.

The senator also emphasized he has no plans to endorse another candidate in the Republican nomination race.

“The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in,” he said.

And Scott gave a thumbs down to the idea that he could serve as the running mate on the Republican Party’s 2024 national ticket.

“Being vice president has never been on my to-do list,” he said.

The news was a surprise to some of the senator’s staff. A handful of campaign aides confirmed to Fox News that they were not given a heads-up on Scott’s decision ahead of his live appearance Sunday night.

Given Scott’s almost complete disappearing act during last week’s debate, it was pretty obvious that his campaign was not catching fire or getting anyone beyond his friends and family deeply excited. His announcement on Sunday night, while it seems sudden, really isn’t coming as a shock to anyone.

Despite declining to endorse another candidate, his fellow Republican candidates were pretty gracious about his campaign ending.

Tim Scott is a strong conservative with bold ideas about how to get our country back on track. I respect his courage to run this campaign and thank him for his service to America and the U.S. Senate.

I look forward to Tim continuing to be a leader in our party for years to come.

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) November 13, 2023

Tim Scott is a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many.

The Republican primary was made better by his participation in it.

South Carolina is blessed to continue to have him as our senator.

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 13, 2023

As opposed to, say, the DNC.

The Democratic National Committee on Tim Scott. pic.twitter.com/RTkkTVnPCQ

— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 13, 2023

And Reuters would like to remind everyone that Tim Scott is the ONLY black Republican in the Senate. Just check out this screenshot of their headline.

The text of the story is no better.

The lone Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, Scott began his campaign in May, promising to present an optimistic, forward-looking vision for America. He portrayed himself as a deeply conservative candidate who was more capable of healing political divisions in the United States than Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

While Scott enjoyed a modest, but measurable bump in opinion polls in some states over the summer, he failed to establish and defend a lane for himself in a relatively crowded field.

Like other candidates, he never articulated to Trump supporters why they should move on from the former president, who is still well liked by most primary voters.

Among the donors that supported Scott but are now switching to Haley’s camp are metals magnate Andy Sabin and New York-based litigator Eric Levine.Levine said he planned to host a fundraiser for Haley.

“I will support Nikki Haley enthusiastically,” Levine said.

A third Scott donor, California-based commercial real estate banker Jeff Burns, said he had yet to make up his mind, but was leaning towards Haley.

Now, what is the state of the race, and why is the media so concerned with where Scott’s donors end up? Donald Trump is still leading the pack by leaps and bounds, but no one really knows what will happen if he ends up being convicted of either a federal or state felony. The current case in New York is a civil one, so that involves fines, not prison. But the last available polls indicate that a conviction would put a significant dent into Trump’s support. If that happens, both DeSantis and Haley, who are the only other viable candidates at this moment, want to be standing by and ready to pick up voters. If the donors who were supporting Tim Scott shift their finances to Nikki Haley, that would give Haley more of an edge. And the media have a vested interest in NOT seeing DeSantis as the candidate, because they desperately want Trump for the ratings.

The bottom line is that Tim Scott is a perfectly likeable Republican who has a compelling life story, but he never convinced enough voters that he had the drive or the fire to be president. On paper, Tim Scott looked good. In reality, his demeanor never translated into someone voters could see as fighting for them. Regardless, this field needs to keep narrowing down, and the next debate should really only be DeSantis and Haley – and Trump, who owes it to voters to show up and answer questions.

Featured image: Senator Tim Scott, official portrait, cropped, public domain