Tim Scott in line to chair Senate campaign arm for 2026 cycle

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 15, 2024

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Scott appears on track to be the next chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The South Carolina Republican was making calls through the holiday weekend, and other contenders for the job for the 2026 cycle were opting against pursuing it.

Scott would bring a natural fundraising network from his 2024 presidential bid. A person familiar with the developments said the immediate focus was on winning back control of the Senate this year, but there appeared to be widespread support for Scott taking the NRSC mantle from Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.

The next head of the Senate GOP campaign arm is facing the inverse of this cycle’s highly favorable environment for Republicans. Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 Senate seats up this year, many of those are in states former President Donald Trump won in either 2016 or 2020. Political handicappers like Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales are projecting anywhere from a two-to-four seat pickup for Republicans, enough to give them majority control of the chamber.

For the 2026 cycle, Republicans currently hold 20 of the 33 seats electing senators. Retirements and the potential loss of some senators who might take a position in the new administration taking office in 2025 will likely affect the dynamics of the race.

In the 118th Congress, Scott became the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee.

Elected to the House in 2010, he was the first Black Republican elected to that chamber from the South in more than a century. Scott won a second term in 2012, then was appointed to the Senate in early 2013 to replace the Republican Jim DeMint, who left to become president of the conservative Heritage Foundation. He defeated Democrat Joyce Dickerson for the Senate seat in a 2014 special election. Scott won his reelection bid in 2016, when DeMint’s original term expired, with over 60% of the vote.

In 2022, he beat Democrat Krystle Matthews with nearly 63% of the vote for his second full term.

The NRSC chair position is elected by members of the Republican Conference, and that and other leadership elections typically are resolved in the post-Election Day work sessions on Capitol Hill.