Republican senator is running for president

By Sam CabralBBC News, Washington

Senator Tim Scott has become the latest Republican to join an increasingly crowded 2024 race for US president.

Mr Scott, 57, who has represented South Carolina in the chamber since 2013, promised to revive America's "culture of greatness".

With about $22m (£18m) in cash on hand, he enters the fray with more campaign funds than any of his rivals.

Donald Trump is the front-runner for the nomination, with Mr Scott earning less than 5% in national opinion polls.

At a launch event in his hometown of North Charleston on Monday, Mr Scott, who is black, touted his personal story as an embodiment of the American dream.

The grandson of a Deep South cotton field worker, he spoke of being raised by a single mother and of how his family had risen "from cotton to Congress" in his grandfather's lifetime.

The Republican has spoken in the past of his experience as a black man in America, from being pulled over by police seven times in one year to being stopped inside the US Capitol building.

But in his campaign launch speech, he rejected the idea that the nation is defined by racial division.

"I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression," he said, railing against the political left. "The truth of my life disproves their lies."

He vowed to turn around "a nation in retreat".

"Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb," he said. "We are not in decline. We are in a Biden retreat. So all we need to do is turn around."

Mr Scott is one of three sitting black US senators in the 100-member upper chamber of Congress, alongside Democrats Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock.

The mild-mannered lawmaker, a teetotalling bachelor, has already picked up endorsements from two of his Senate colleagues, including John Thune, the chamber's second highest-ranking Republican.

"There may be somebody in the United States who doesn't like Tim Scott, but I've never met them," long-time Republican consultant Whit Ayres said. "He's got the potential to be a very strong candidate."

"For the Republican Party to be competitive in a rapidly changing America, it needs to present a different face to the electorate, and Tim Scott clearly represents a different face," he added.

Mr Scott will be heading later this week to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote in Republican primary elections.

Having already filed paperwork to run for president with the Federal Election Commission, he has also snapped up $6m of air time in both states. It is the largest single ad buy in the 2024 race to date.

He has the backing of some of the right's wealthiest donors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and is expected to compete for the evangelical Christian vote, a key Republican bloc.

The former insurance salesman joins a field that also includes ex-US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder.

Others such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are also expected to run.

'Dollars behind him'

While former president Mr Trump has $14m on hand, and rivals like Mr DeSantis are likely to accrue significant outside support, Mr Scott - a strong fundraiser - is allowed by law to transfer the nearly $22m he amassed in his Senate account to his presidential campaign.

"Senator Scott is going to have a huge impact on this race because he's got the dollars behind him," Dave Wilson, a South Carolina-based Republican strategist, told the BBC.

"When you look at the fact that he has more money than the other candidates out there, he is going to have an easier time putting the optimistic message he has out there."

The South Carolina native's campaign is expected to centre on a more positive, less populist form of conservatism but it remains unclear if he can present himself as a serious alternative to Mr Trump.

He told Fox News last year he has "not very many" policy differences with Mr Trump. He was also a key Senate backer of the then-president's 2017 tax cuts.

"There's a general sense that the Republican base is looking for a candidate who's confrontational and contentious," said Mr Ayres. "If that is indeed the case, other candidates will fit that mould."

If he does not win the nomination, the senator has been tipped as a potential running mate for the party's eventual 2024 nominee.

"Good luck Tim!" Mr Trump wrote on social media, a friendly message that stood in stark contrast to the attacks he usually launches at rivals.

Mr DeSantis, who is polling in second place but has lost ground to Mr Trump in recent weeks, is expected to formally join the race later this week.

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