Tim Scott Set to Become the First Black Republican in the South Carolina House Since Reconstruction

Tim Scott is an entrepreneur from Charleston, South Carolina, who went into business with two friends from high school. Now highly successful, Scott decided to run for the South Carolina House of Representatives as a Republican. Last month he won a three-way primary with more than half of the total vote. He faces no Democratic opposition in November.

When he takes his seat in January, he will become the first African-American Republican to serve in the South Carolina House since Reconstruction. A fiscal conservative with a Horatio Alger background, some political observers see Scott as a possible gubernatorial candidate in the future. With solid conservative credentials to attract GOP white voters and the prospects of pulling a significant share of the usually Democratic black vote in the general election, Scott might be a formidable candidate.

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