South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott announced his presidential run Monday, with a special mention of billionaire Larry Ellison, who has poured $25 million into Scott’s super PAC, Opportunity Matters Fund.
“I choose freedom and hope and opportunity,” Scott told the crowd gathered in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday. ”We need a president who persuades not just our friends and our base” but seeks “common sense” solutions and displays “compassion for people who don’t agree with us.”
From the stage, he specifically noted Ellison’s presence in the crowd, calling him a “great mentor.”
Since 2020, Elison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., has made a series of donations totaling $25 million to Scott’s Opportunity Matters Fund – a conservative Super Pac. The group has also received donations from Koch Industries Inc. and New Balance owner and chairman James S. Davis, with the stated mission to support candidates that will “help prove the American Dream is alive and well.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is also running for president in 2024, welcomed Scott to the race.
“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott in entering the Republican Presidential Primary Race,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. “It is rapidly loading up with lots of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable. I got Opportunity Zones done with Tim, a big deal that has been highly successful. Good luck Tim!”
