Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) used his closing statement at Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate to call for a return to values that he said changed his life.
“We should turn back to faith, patriotism and individual responsibility,” he said in a closing statement. “We should stop choosing victimhood and start choosing victory. We should stop kneeling in protest and start kneeling in prayer.”
“There are basic truths that built this country. If you’re able bodied in America, you work. If you take out a loan, you pay it back. If you commit a violent crime, you go to jail. And if God made you a man, you play sports against men,” he continued.
Scott squeaked by to clinch a spot at the third GOP presidential debate on Wednesday, where candidates discussed topics ranging from foreign policy to TikTok to abortion. The South Carolina Republican invoked religious values in his closing statement on Wednesday.
“I do not just want to win the battle against Joe Biden. I want us together to win the war, the war for Christian conservative values that changed my life,” he said.
A memo put together by Scott’s campaign staff ahead of the debate took aim at GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley. The memo said that Scott has the “conservative credentials” the Republican base “demands,” which Haley “abandoned.”
The memo also cited that Iowa evangelicals are in Scott’s “favor,” despite Scott’s lackluster poll numbers in other surveys. An Iowa poll released last week by NBC News and the Des Moines Register showed that Scott came in fourth with 7 percent support, while former President Donald Trump garnered the most support with 43 percent.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
