Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina files paperwork to enter 2024 Republican presidential race

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina files paperwork to enter 2024 Republican presidential race.

The announcement comes a few days early—he previously said he would make an announcement on May 22.

Scott, 57, will join other announced candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and “anti-woke” biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Another of those is Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor who appointed Scott in 2012 to the Senate, where he is the sole Black Republican.

Last month, Scott created an exploratory committee, a mechanism that allowed him to raise money for polling and travel related to making a determination on the race. In a video announcing that effort, Scott positioned himself as the antidote to the “radical left,” with a self-made success story as the son of a single mother who overcame poverty, and bemoaned Democratic leaders as needlessly dividing the country by fostering a “culture of grievance.”