MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Sen. Tim Scott said Donald Trump doesn’t have what it takes to win a general election, the sharpest jab he’s thrown at the former president and a clear rebuke of the electability of the former president’s electability, who continues to lead the 2024 Republican primary field.
The South Carolina Republican senator’s remark Monday night came in response to a question from a voter asking why she should no longer support the former president.
“I don’t think he can win,” Scott said. “You have to be able to win in Georgia. I don’t think he can win in Georgia. I think you’ll have to be able to win in Pennsylvania.”
Scott also appeared to blame Trump for losses in Georgia’s 2021 runoff election that cost the party control of the Senate when Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won.
“Everybody remembers Jan. 6, 2020. But what we forget sometimes is Jan. 5,” Scott said. “We had two Republican seats on the ballot in Georgia. And the party told northern Georgians to stay home.”
After the Georgia results, many GOP strategists blamed Trump because he kept sowing doubts about the integrity of the electoral system — sowing confusion about whether Republicans should even turn out to vote.
Scott has also suggested in recent weeks that it’s time for the Republican Party to move on from the former president and has propped himself up as a more persuasive, and optimistic, alternative.
“We’ve lost three of the last national elections because negativity hasn’t worked,” Scott on ABC’s Good Morning America on Oct. 19.
“We need a candidate who brings optimism,” he added, stopping short of naming Trump.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung took a shot at Scott’s standing in the race when asked for comment on the senator’s remarks.
“We don’t respond to people polling at 1%,” Cheung said.
Scott is hitting 2% in FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average, 55 points behind Trump. In the critical early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Scott jumps up to 5.6% and 4.1%, respectively, still leagues away from Trump.
Scott’s campaign announced Monday that it’s shifting the bulk of its resources to Iowa, shifting staff and money away from New Hampshire to the caucuses. A super PAC supporting his presidential bid recently announced it was pulling the TV ad reservations it had made for the fall. The co-chair of the group said that they weren’t going to “waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative.”
The senator from South Carolina isn’t the only GOP presidential candidate to say Trump won’t be able to bring home the bacon for the Republican party in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson have all made a similar argument.