Scott becomes 7th GOP candidate seeking 1st Congressional District seat

Republican Tim Scott announced Monday he will halt his bid for lieutenant governor and run for the First Congressional District instead. He not only becomes the seventh Republican in the race, but he also is attempting to become the first black Republican in Congress in six years.

“The ultimate contrast between Congress and my candidacy is it seems like the current administration has cast itself that you can spend your way out of a deficit,” he said. “I strongly disagree. It seems like they believe that more spending is OK with higher taxes. I strongly disagree. It appears to me that our current environment says our government should take over health care disguised as reform, and I strongly disagree.”

Scott, who recently made history as the first black Republican state lawmaker in South Carolina since Reconstruction, downplayed the racial significance of his new attempt to become the first black Republican Congressman since former Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma left office in 2003.

“I think what I represent, more than a race, is a philosophy and a value system, so my focus will be on that philosophy of limited government and that value system that says a social and fiscal conservative is the best way for us to lead America back to the promised land,” Scott said.

Other Republican candidates are: Isle of Palms City Councilman Ryan Buckhannon, Charleston businessman Carroll Campbell, GOP activist Katherine Jenerette of North Myrtle Beach, former Charleston County School Board member and lawyer Larry Kobrovsky, Charleston County Councilman and lawyer Paul Thurmond, and former Brown aide Stovall Witte.

Democratic candidates who have announced are commercial pilot Robert Burton of Mount Pleasant, businessman Robert Dobbs of Georgetown and retired accountant Dick Withington of Horry County.

Read more in tomorrow’s editions of The Post and Courier.