Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) will now speak at Rep. Jeff Duncan's (R-SC) annual Faith & Freedom BBQ in South Carolina on Aug. 28, which is being headlined by keynote speaker and fellow GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
According to a release sent on Thursday morning, the event will feature a special appearance from Scott. This was not included in the original announcement last month.
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DeSantis's keynote was announced on July 27, with Duncan recalling his time in Congress alongside the Florida Republican. “I served with Gov. Ron DeSantis in Congress and know how committed he is to restoring the values that made America the envy of the world," he said at the time.
In the initial release, Duncan also said, “South Carolina is known as the proving ground for GOP presidential candidates, and I’m humbled that Faith & Freedom BBQ has become the No. 1 stop as candidates contend for the vote of South Carolinians."
The BBQ event will also be taking place just days after the Republican National Committee's first primary debate on Aug. 23, where Scott and DeSantis, among other GOP candidates, will face off.
The speaker announcement comes as Scott's campaign launches a new $8 million ad buy in key states Iowa and New Hampshire. The new advertising effort includes a $6.6 million investment in TV ads through November. Ads for his campaign will air across broadcast, cable, and satellite TV. Scott's team is further investing in a radio and digital ad campaign during the same time period.
A Fox Business poll last month showed former President Donald Trump with a commanding lead in South Carolina, an all-important early primary state, with nearly half of Republican primary voters saying they would vote for him. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley took second place with 14% in her home state, a significant departure from her national polling, which floats at about 3%. DeSantis, who is second to Trump in most polls, had 13%. Scott took fourth in what is also his home state, with 10%.
South Carolina is particularly unique in this primary election cycle because two of the more prominent GOP candidates call the state home. Haley served as governor of the Palmetto State from 2011 to 2017 before joining the Trump administration. Scott is a current senator for South Carolina.
Earlier this month, Trump was the keynote speaker at the South Carolina Republican Party's largest event of the year, a fundraiser called the Silver Elephant. In an early July rally, the former president drew a reported 50,000 attendees to a rally in Pickens County, South Carolina. Previously, Pickens County Republican Party Chairman Bob Fetterly noted to the Washington Examiner the significance of this, explaining, "Trump just packed 50,000 people into a town that's home to 3,400."
The newly announced Scott speech at Duncan's BBQ is notable, however, because Republican leaders in South Carolina have expressed the existence of support for the senator that may not be reflected in national polls. Last month, county and district party leaders said that support for Trump is significant and largely resembles that of national polling. But they indicated that there is interest in Scott as an alternative. Spartanburg County GOP Chairman Curtis Smith last month claimed that he had met voters "who had never voted Republican in their lives, who were minorities, who listened to Tim Scott and said, 'I am now a Republican. And I'm going to vote.'"
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According to Dorchester County GOP Chairman Steven Wright last month, "Sen. Scott is building an operation across our state. People know him. People like him. And he has received a great number of endorsements from senators, from local elected officials."
Leading up to the state's primary, SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick, who is also co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, had predicted the campaign season would be more competitive than usual, particularly because of the party's later primary date, Feb. 24, which was selected in order to give candidates more time to campaign in the state.