SC Gov. Nikki Haley Picks Rep. Tim Scott To Replace Jim DeMint

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has chosen Congressman Tim Scott to fill the Senate seat of Jim DeMint. Scott will be the South’s first black Republican since reconstruction.

Scott’s selection culminates an amazingly fast rise through South Carolina politics. Just four years ago, Scott was chairman of the Charleston County Council. In 2008, he became the first black Republican in the South Carolina Legislature in more than a century, and in 2010, won his seat in the U.S. House from his conservative district with 65 percent of the vote.

He’ll become only the fourth black Republican in Senate history and the first black senator since former Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was elected president. Scott has been one of two black Republicans in the House. The other, Rep. Allen West of Florida, lost his re-election bid last month.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.