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Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign is going “all-in” on the Iowa caucuses as his White House bid struggles to gain momentum nationally among Republicans.
Scott’s campaign said it will shift resources from New Hampshire to Iowa, doubling its staff in Iowa and opening new headquarters in West Des Moines. It also plans to spend more on advertising ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucus on Jan. 15, it said in a statement.
“Tim Scott is all-in on Iowa,” campaign manager Jen DeCasper said in a statement Monday. “No other candidate has the resources, the foundation of support and the message to be successful in the Hawkeye State.”
The Des Moines Register first reported the campaign’s new focus on Iowa.
The campaign’s revised strategy will bring Scott, of South Carolina, back to Iowa every week in the lead-up to the caucuses. Scott will conclude a five-day tour of the state Tuesday.
But the move also underscores faltering aspects of his campaign. His numbers have plateaued in both early-state and national polls, the main super PAC supporting him recently canceled its planned fall ad buy, and concerns persist about whether he can meet the polling threshold to qualify for the next Republican primary debate.
A new national poll conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University had Scott tied for fourth place with Vivek Ramaswamy at almost 3% among Republican respondents.
“We are going to make our stake right here in the great state of Iowa first; it will take our momentum wherever we go next,” Scott said Monday at a campaign event in Marshalltown, Iowa.
“My message resonates here really well,” said Scott, adding that he believes his faith-based message will propel him to victory in the state.
Building momentum among evangelical voters in Iowa deemed “persuadable” may be the Scott’s campaign’s best opportunity to prove the viability of his White House bid. In a meeting with donors this month in Dallas, senior campaign officials argued that the “evangelical lane in Iowa is unoccupied” and positioned Scott as having a better shot than his GOP rivals in appealing to the group, given his high net favorability rating.
Among likely GOP caucusgoers in Iowa, Scott was second only to former President Donald Trump in favorability, according to an NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll. But Scott’s unfavorable numbers were half those of Trump.
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