Timothy Eugene Scott (born September 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Carolina since 2013.

When Scott was seven years old, his parents divorced, leaving him and his older brother, who later became a sergeant major in the U.S. Army, to grow up in working-class poverty with their mother, who often worked double shifts to support her family.

[9] A month before his senior year, he fell asleep while driving, resulting in a car accident that dimmed his prospects as a football recruit.

[21] In 1997, he supported posting the Ten Commandments outside the council chambers, saying it would remind members of the absolute rules they should follow.

The county council unanimously approved the display, and Scott nailed a King James version of the Commandments to the wall.

Justice officials noted that at-large seats dilute the voting strength of the significant African American minority in the county, who in 2000 made up 34.5% of the population.

[23] County officials noted that the majority of voters in 1989 had approved electing members by at-large seats in a popular referendum.

[24]The Department of Justice alleged that the issue was not a question of ethnicity, stating that voters in black precincts in the county had rejected Scott as a candidate for the council.

The federal court found that the former method violated the Voting Rights Act, following a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department.

With support from advisors such as Nicolas Muzin,[27] Scott ran for his seat in District 117 of the South Carolina House of Representatives and won the Republican primary with 53% of the vote, defeating Bill Crosby and Wheeler Tillman.

"[34] Scott entered the election for lieutenant governor but switched to run for South Carolina's 1st congressional district after Republican incumbent Henry Brown announced his retirement.

Scott was endorsed by the Club for Growth,[41] various Tea Party movement groups, former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin,[42][43] Republican House Whip Eric Cantor,[44] former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee,[45] and South Carolina Senator and Minuteman Project founder Jim DeMint.

[57] The NLRB had recently opposed the relocation of a Boeing production facility from Washington state to South Carolina.

Senators in the 113th Congress, alongside Mo Cowan and later Cory Booker (and the first since Roland Burris retired in 2010 after succeeding Barack Obama).

[67] In January 2014, he signed an amicus brief in support of Senator Ron Johnson's legal challenge to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Affordable Care Act ruling.

[72] In July 2018, Scott and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris introduced a bipartisan bill to make lynching a federal hate crime.

[73] In February 2019, Scott was one of 16 senators to vote against legislation preventing a partial government shutdown and containing $1.375 billion for barriers along the U.S.–Mexico border that included 55 miles of fencing.

[74] In April 2021, Scott delivered the Republican response to President Joe Biden's Joint Address to Congress.

[80] Amid skeptical reactions from others in the black community, he tweeted, "Not surprising the last 24 hours have seen a lot of 'token' 'boy' or 'you're being used' in my mentions" and "Let me get this straight ... you DON'T want the person who has faced racial profiling by police, been pulled over dozens of times, or been speaking out for YEARS drafting this?".

"[84] Senate Minority Whip Democrat Dick Durbin called the bill "token" legislation, although he later apologized to Scott.

[93] Scott announced the suspension of his campaign on Fox News's Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy on November 12, 2023.

[citation needed] Scott was among the 31 Senate Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

[104] In 2022 and 2023, he and Senator Rick Scott (no relation) co-sponsored the PROTECT Kids Act, a bill that would cut federal funding to schools unless they informed parents of changes in children's "pronouns, gender markers, or sex-based accommodations (including locker rooms and bathrooms).

[109] Scott advocated continued military presence in Afghanistan and believed early withdrawal would benefit al-Qaeda.

"[114] In November 2017, in response to efforts by China to purchase US tech companies, Scott was one of nine cosponsors of a bill that would broaden the federal government's ability to prevent foreign purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to allow it to review and possibly decline smaller investments and add national security factors, including whether information about Americans would be exposed as part of transactions or whether a deal would facilitate fraud.

[115] In January 2018, Scott was one of 36 Republican senators to sign a letter asking Trump to preserve the North American Free Trade Agreement in modernized form.

[117][better source needed] In 2017, Scott was one of 22 senators to sign a letter[118] to President Donald Trump urging him to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.

[121] Scott cited Farr's involvement in the 1984 and 1990 Senate campaigns of Jesse Helms, which sought to suppress black voters, and a 1991 memo from the Department of Justice under the George H. W. Bush administration that stated that "Farr was the primary coordinator of the 1984 'ballot security' program conducted by the NCGOP and 1984 Helms for Senate Committee.

"[121] Further explaining his vote, Scott said the Republican Party was "not doing a very good job of avoiding the obvious potholes on race in America.

"[122] In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal criticized Scott, arguing that Democrats would see Farr's defeat as a "vindication of their most underhanded and inflammatory racial tactics.