Scott Endorses Trump With Just Days to Go Before NH Primary

CONCORD, N.H. — Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., formally endorsed former President Donald Trump Friday night, traveling a snowy Concord, New Hampshire, to assert before a raucous crowd that his former rival for the Republican presidential nomination is the only candidate left in the race “who will unite our country.”

The endorsement, coming just days before Republicans head to the polls in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, immediately turned the day’s news cycle upside down.

Scott’s decision to back Trump was initially reported by The New York Times hours ahead of Trump’s scheduled rally at the Grappone Center in Concord.

Almost immediately it was being alternately interpreted as a blow and something of a betrayal of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who elevated the North Charleston native to the national stage by appointing him to the Senate in 2012.

“Nobody cares what Tim Scott thinks,” groused New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Haley.

Speaking to Fox News, Sununu added, “Tim Scott wouldn’t have a job without Nikki Haley.”

During a press availability Friday, Haley, who has been steadily gaining on Trump in the polls, effectively shrugged off the endorsement news.

“It’s interesting that Trump’s lining up with all the Washington insiders when he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp,” she said.

Of course, with so few days left before voters go to the polls, it will be almost impossible to gauge what impact, if any, Scott’s endorsement actually has in New Hampshire.

On Friday night, he was clearly playing to the already committed.

“We need a president who will close our southern border,” he declared to whoops and shouts from the audience.

“We need a president who will unite our country. We need a president who will protect your Social Security and my mama’s Social Security,” Scott continued. “We need a president who will restore law and order. We need a president who will lower our taxes. We need a president like Donald Trump.”

On a roll, Scott went on to say that Americans need a president who understands “that people are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

“We need a president our foreign adversaries are afraid of and who our allies respect. We need a president who doesn’t see Black and White. We need a president who sees America as one American family.

“That’s why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of the United States,” he quipped.

With Scott’s endorsement, Trump now has the backing of both senators from South Carolina (the other being Lindsey Graham) just before that state’s Republican primary.

In fact, one of the few South Carolina politicians who has broken ranks with Trump and endorsed Haley is Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who traveled to Iowa last week with his wife to campaign on the former governor’s behalf.

Scott’s endorsement also signals a change of heart on his part. When he ended his own campaign for the presidency, he initially said he didn’t plan to endorse anyone.

“I’m going to recommend that voters study each candidate,” Scott said at the time. “The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in on who they should endorse.”

In other New Hampshire primary news, Secretary of State David Scanlan announced his prediction Friday for the size of the turnout for Tuesday’s vote.

All told, there are 267,768 registered Republicans in New Hampshire, and 261,254 Democrats, with 344,335 state residents declaring themselves “undeclared.”

Given New Hampshire’s role in Trump’s rise, Scanlan predicted many people would cross party lines after they travel to their voting district and decide whether they will vote for someone or against someone.

However many do show up, they will have plenty of company.

Matthew Normand, city clerk in Manchester, New Hampshire, said Friday that 30 news organizations have reserved spaces in the city’s 12 voting precincts.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue