REUTERS Scott to succeed DeMint in Senate

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appointed tea party Rep. Tim Scott Monday to succeed resigning Sen. Jim DeMint, making him the first African-American Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate in more than three decades and the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.

Race and history aside, Haley hailed Scott as a unique political talent with a keen understanding of business and “the value of a dollar.”


( PHOTOS: Tim Scott’s career)

“What I will also tell you, and it is very important to me as a minority female, is that Congressman Scott earned this seat,” Haley said at the state Capitol in Columbus, flanked by Scott, DeMint and other members of the congressional delegation. Haley is Indian-American.

“He earned this seat for the person that he is. He earned this seat for the results he has shown. He earned this seat for what I know he is going to do in making South Carolina and making our country proud.”

The news conference was part welcome party for Scott, part send off for conservative icon DeMint, who is stepping down in January to become president of The Heritage Foundation.

“There is no one who can fill his shoes, there is no one who can carry on that torch,” Haley said. “But I also think this is a new day.”

( PHOTOS: Jim DeMint’s career)

Haley’s pick is a historic one. Scott, 47, who grew up poor in North Charleston, S.C., will become the first African-American senator from the South since the 1880s, as well as the only African-American in the chamber. Illinois Democrat Roland Burris, who was appointed to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, last served in the chamber in November 2010.

Scott’s selection also gives the GOP a prominent African-American voice in the Senate just a month after the party suffered a drubbing at the polls among minority voters. Exit polls showed that more than 90 percent of blacks voted for Obama.

“This is truly an historic moment for the Palmetto State from a governor who’s broken more than a few barriers in her own career,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

Upon being introduced by Haley, Scott asked for a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., and praised his “Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” He acknowledged his mother, Frances Scott, who was sitting in the audience and taught him that sometimes “love has to come at the end of a switch.”

“My mother did not quit on me,” he said.

As talks to avert the “fiscal cliff” continue, Scott signaled he would continue in the tradition of DeMint, drawing attention to the nation’s $16 trillion debt.

“If you have a problem with spending, there is not enough revenue to make up for it,” Scott said. “We have a spending problem in America not a revenue problem.”

Both establishment Republicans and fiscal conservatives cheered Haley’s choice, with the Club For Growth calling Scott a “fantastic” pick.

“Congressman Scott is a fighter for limited government and pro-growth policies in Washington and we can’t wait to see him in the Senate,” said Chris Chocola, president of the Club for Growth, which supports limiting the size of government and backed Scott in his 2010 primary.

“South Carolina Republicans are thrilled with Governor Haley’s historic selection of Rep. Scott,” added South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly.

“Rep. Scott embodies our American dream. He is a man of faith, a small businessman, and a consistent voice for common sense reforms. We look forward to Rep. Scott carrying Senator Jim DeMint’s torch of conservative leadership.”

Others reportedly on Haley’s short list were Reps. Trey Gowdy, former state Attorney General Henry McMaster, state official Catherine Templeton and South Carolina’s former first lady, Jenny Sanford.

But Scott, a former Charleston County Council member who owns an insurance agency, had been the favorite of many South Carolina Republicans. Lindsey Graham, the state’s senior senator, said last week a Scott selection would be “transformational.”

( Also on POLITICO: 10 facts about Tim Scott)

In his 2010 House race, Scott went up against one of the Palmetto State’s most powerful political families. He beat out Paul Thurmond, son to the late, one-time segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond, in the GOP primary, and defeated the younger Thurmond again, 68 percent to 32 percent, in a runoff election.

Scott’s appointment will set off a scramble for his House seat, which will be filled by a special election. And it means Scott will have to run in his own Senate special election in 2014, the same cycle in which Haley and Graham will be up for reelection.

DeMint is expected to resign Jan. 2, allowing Scott to be sworn in with the other new senators on Jan. 3, a GOP source said.

As for Scott’s House seat, South Carolina election law states that a special primary election is to be held 11 weeks after the resignation occurs. A runoff election is triggered if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, and the general election is scheduled 18 weeks after the vacancy occurs.

South Carolina insiders say the House opening could attract a number of potential GOP candidates, including Paul Thurmond, Jenny Sanford, state Sens. Larry Grooms and Tom Davis, state House Majority Whip Jimmy Merrill and state House members Peter McCoy and Chip Limehouse.

Manu Raju and Kate Nocera contributed to this report.