Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential contest.
His goal was to earn the Republican nomination and become the first African-American to do it.
He stated on Fox: “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.'”
Despite having an enormous amount of funding, Tim Scott was unable to have a significant influence in opinion polls.
He has ruled out competing for vice president and has not endorsed any of the other contenders.
He said in an interview on Sunday with Fox anchor and close friend Trey Gowdy, “I’ll be honest with you: I ran for president to be president,” adding that holding the office of vice president was not on his “to-do list”.
Mr. Scott, 58, entered the campaign in May seeking the Republican candidacy. He ran on a platform of being a staunch conservative who believed he could unite the US political establishment more effectively than US President Donald Trump.
With a largely upbeat platform, he promised to restore the US’s “culture of greatness” and presented his life narrative as the epitome of the American dream.
A child of a cotton field laborer in the Deep South, he recounted his upbringing by a lone mother and how his family progressed “from cotton to Congress” over his grandfather’s life.
Not long after the third presidential debate in Miami last week, he made the decision to step out from the Republican presidential campaign.
Due to other candidates’ frequent overshadowing of him on the debate platform and the electorate’s lack of interest in his upbeat campaign theme, Mr. Scott may not be able to participate in the upcoming Republican debate on December 6.
The race’s front-runner, Donald Trump, enjoys a sizable advantage over his Republican opponents and has not taken part in the televised debates.
Many members of Mr. Scott’s staff were taken aback by his decision to halt his campaign, according to CBS, the BBC’s US media partner.
One campaign aide told CBS, “It was a shock to nearly everyone on the campaign and most people found out in real time.”
Mr. Scott represents the second well-known departure from the competitive US presidential contest of 2024.
Mike Pence, the 64-year-old former vice president, dropped out of the contest in late October after failing to win over enough Republican votes.
Mr. Scott made his decision barely two months before Iowa’s presidential primary season began.
According to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, he only received 4% of the vote, placing him fifth in the Republican field and behind Mr. Trump.
Major supporters of Mr. Scott, a US senator since 2013, claim that they are now aligning themselves with South Carolina native and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
On Sunday night, Ms. Haley referred to Mr. Scott as “a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many” in a post on X, the website that was once known as Twitter.
“The Republican primary was made better by his participation in it.”
