Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T11:32:38.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

History Made: The Rise of Republican Tim Scott

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2016

Scott H. Huffmon
Affiliation:
Winthrop University
H. Gibbs Knotts
Affiliation:
College of Charleston
Seth C. McKee
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University

Abstract

In a time of unprecedented racial polarization in partisan voting, and in a staunchly Republican Deep South state, one black Republican managed to reach the pinnacle of public office. This article examines Tim Scott’s rise by analyzing precinct-level data to better understand his 2010 election to the US House and data from the Winthrop Poll to explore his more recent US Senate victory. To better understand support for Scott, we also report results from an embedded-survey experiment to assess respondents’ favorability toward Scott when he is characterized by two different frames: (1) “Tea Party favorite,” and (2) “first African American Senator from South Carolina since Reconstruction.” We found that conservatives, evangelicals, and less-educated individuals respond more positively to Scott when he is described as a “Tea Party favorite.” More than an intriguing case study, Scott’s rise tells a broader story of the complicated relationships among race, ideology, and partisanship in the contemporary American South.

Type
Politics
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barone, Michael and McCutcheon, Chuck. 2011. The Almanac of American Politics 2012. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Barone, Michael and McCutcheon, Chuck. 2013. The Almanac of American Politics 2014. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Behre, Robert. 2010. “Scott Easily Defeats Thurmond for GOP Nod.” The Post and Courier, June 23. Available at www.postandcourier.com/article20100623/PC1602/306239934. Accessed September 3, 2015.Google Scholar
Black, Earl and Black, Merle. 2002. The Rise of Southern Republicans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Blake, Aaron. 2012. “The Case for Tim Scott.” The Washington Post, December 6. Available at www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2012/12/06/the-case-for-tim-scott. Accessed September 5, 2015.Google Scholar
Blake, Aaron and Cillizza, Chris. 2012. “Nikki Haley Appoints Rep. Tim Scott to Senate.” The Washington Post, December 17. Available at www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2012/12/17/nikki-haley-to-appoint-rep-tim-scott-to-senate. Accessed September 5, 2015.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G. and Stimson, James A.. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, Jamie, Crespin, Michael, Eaves, Carrie, and Wanless, Emily. 2011. “Constituency Congruency and Candidate Competition in U.S. House Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 36 (3): 461–82.Google Scholar
Carson, Jamie, Crespin, Michael, Eaves, Carrie, and Wanless, Emily. 2012. “Constituency Congruency and Candidate Competition in Primary Elections for the U.S. House.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 12 (2): 127–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foner, Eric. 1988. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Gardner, Amy. 2010. “In S.C. Twist, Black Candidate Is Expected to Beat Thurmond’s Son in House Race.” The Washington Post, June 22. Available at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/ 06/21/AR2010062102962.html. Accessed September 5, 2015.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew, Park, David, Shor, Boris, Bafumi, Joseph, and Cortina, Jeronimo. 2008. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hillygus, D. Sunshine and Shields, Todd G.. 2009. The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Presidential Campaigns. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hood, M. V. III, Kidd, Quentin, and Morris, Irwin L.. 2012. The Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hood, M. V. III, Kidd, Quentin, and Morris, Irwin L.. 2015. “Race and the Tea Party in the Palmetto State: Tim Scott and the 2014 Senate Elections in South Carolina.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans (January).Google Scholar
Hood, M. V. III and McKee, Seth C.. 2015. “True Colors: White Conservative Support for Minority Republican Candidates.” Public Opinion Quarterly 79 (1): 2852.Google Scholar
Huffmon, Scott H., Gibbs Knotts, H., and McKee, Seth C.. 2016. “Similarities and Differences in Support of Minority and White Republican Candidates.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 1 (1): 91116.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. Jr. 1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Lamis, Alexander P. 1984. The Two-Party South. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McKee, Seth C. and Springer, Melanie J.. 2015. “A Tale of ‘Two Souths’: White Voting Behavior in Contemporary Southern Elections.” Social Science Quarterly 96 (2): 588607.Google Scholar
Phillips, Kevin P. 1969. The Emerging Republican Majority. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House.Google Scholar
Schlesinger, Joseph A. 1966. Ambition and Politics: Political Careers in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Valentino, Nicholas and Sears, David. 2005. “Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: Race and Partisan Realignment in the Contemporary South.” American Journal of Political Science 49 (3): 672–88.Google Scholar