Senator Tim Scott isn’t exactly blowing his political opponents out of the water. The South Carolina Senator is hovering around 6th place nationally, and his most enduring news cycle centered around a mystery “Christian girl” he’s purportedly dating.
But Sen. Scott isn’t ready to bow out just yet. In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Scott said he’s ready to bet it all on Iowa. “We are excited about where we are,” Scott told Hewitt. “We have made the decision that it’s Iowa or bust for us, and I’m looking forward to being there.”
As far as Republican political strategies go, it makes sense. Although he’s polling in sixth place nationally, he’s at fourth place in Iowa. Evangelical voters are a key constituency for anyone hoping to win the Iowa Caucus. And his religious conviction has been a central theme of Scott’s campaign and political persona.
During his city council campaign, Scott proudly proclaimed that he was a virgin, he’s been known to quote bible verses in his speeches, and he rails against abortion pretty much every chance he gets. While in Iowa, Sen. Scott called out his political opponents, naming and shaming anyone who doesn’t support a federal abortion ban, which would nationalize all of the problems we’re seeing in states that banned abortion.
Scott told Hewitt that he expected to finish second in Iowa. “I’m not going to make any predictions other than that we will be in the top two in Iowa without any question,” he said.
The Iowa Caucus is on January 15th, which doesn’t leave Scott with a ton of time to climb up to the second or first-place finisher spot, especially when he’s trailing former President Donald Trump by 36 points and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley by 9 points.
It is worth noting that Iowa is a caucus state, a much more chaotic and arguably less predictable form of voting than traditional primaries. So, it’s certainly possible that Scott could pull off his Iowa upset.