Tim Scott launches bid to become first Black Republican US president

US Senator Tim Scott is running to become the first Black Republican president, according to papers filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The 57-year-old, who had been widely expected to jump into the race since launching a presidential exploratory committee in April, is planning to hold his official launch in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday.

He has spent recent months visiting the states considered crucial to gaining early momentum in the Republican nominating contest, where he has underlined his Christian faith and the conservative values he learned growing up in a poor, single-parent household.

He has also played up his unique perspective as the only African American on the Republican side of the US Senate.

"American families are starving for hope. We need to have faith. Faith in God, faith in each other, and faith in America," he tweeted on Thursday.

Scott joins a burgeoning field hoping to reel in frontrunner Donald Trump, but he faces a daunting task, with recent polling showing his support at around two percent — an average of 54 points behind the former president.

Other candidates include Trump's first United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, as well as ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and talk radio host Larry Elder, the first African American to enter the race.

'America is not racist'

Scott rejects the notion that the country is inherently racist and has repudiated the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework that presents the idea that the nation’s institutions maintain the dominance of white people.

"Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country," Scott said.

"It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present."

Trump's closest rival is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch his own presidential bid next week.

Scott, who is considered one of the Senate's most formidable fundraisers, said last month he had $22 million in his Senate campaign account and launched a $6 million ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Scott frequently mentions that his family made it "from cotton to Congress in one lifetime" — a reference to his grandfather who left grade school to pick cotton in the Deep South.