Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), one of the contenders vying to be the running mate of former President Donald Trump, launched a multi-million dollar effort to win Black and Latino voters' support for the GOP ticket in the November elections.
The outreach effort will target Blacks and Latinos, with Scott willing to go the extra mile by touring battleground states to win these voters over to the GOP camp. He will also host smaller events and make a direct appeal to these voters.
Scott's effort is backed by the Great Opportunity PAC and includes spending more than $14 million to sway voters of color. Of the $14 million, $5 million will be used for earned and paid media. Some of the states that the million-dollar effort will focus on include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. These are areas identified as having the propensity to change election outcomes with thin margins, CNN reported.
According to CNN's source, described as someone familiar with the plans, Scott's goal is to start as soon as possible. Both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are aware of the outreach effort, and according to the unnamed source, both groups have agreed to be resources if needed for Scott's initiative. The source clarified that Scott's move was not directed by Trump.
Scott stated that the reason why minorities and Black voters are being swayed toward Trump is the disparity between the former president's administration and that of President Joe Biden, pointing to the latter as an alleged failure regarding the border, crime, and the economy.
"A lot of reasons why the shift is becoming just so blatantly obvious that it's now undeniable that there is something amiss," Scott said during a recent briefing with Washington reporters in DC.
"It's not just racial, but it's going to manifest itself in a racial shift that we haven't seen in probably three decades of politics," he added.
"What we haven't had before was a recent president on the right vs. the current president on the left. And that translates into a lot of ticked off people who are looking at the Republican Party," Scott further explained.
Scott stated that working-class African Americans and other Americans are not closing their doors to shifting their political stance. Scott touted what he referred to as "wins" by the former president's administration. Some of these wins include signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and forgiving debts of historically Black colleges and universities.
In addition, Scott argues that many Black voters are conservative and faith-oriented, and by supporting Democrats, their votes are not aligned with the social values they stand for, AOL reported.
The senator believes that the message he is trying to convey to Black voters will resonate well in major cities in battleground states like Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia.
