With the veepstakes on, Tim Scott thinks he can deliver the Black votes Trump wants

Sen. Tim Scott says Black voters, especially Black men, might be the key to a Trump victory in 2024.

Black voters have overwhelmingly supported Democratic presidential candidates over the years, but the South Carolina senator points to recent polling that shows black support for Biden is falling.

“There’s a lot of reasons why the shift is now becoming so blatantly obvious that it is now undeniable that there is something amiss. It’s real,” Scott said in a meeting Wednesday with a group of reporters. “It's not just racial, but it's going to manifest itself in a racial shift that we haven't seen in probably three decades of politics.”

Scott, who is a leading candidate to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, thinks he can help Trump continue to chip away at that lead - and plans to court those voters while campaigning over the next several months in battleground states.

The effort could also boost Scott’s chances of being picked by Trump, who has made a point of appealing to Black and Latino voters. Trump is expected to select his choice for vice president by the Republican National Convention, which will be held next month in Milwaukee.

“Obviously, it’s a must win constituency for Biden,” explained Alex Conant, who helped lead Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign in 2016. “To the extent that [Sen. Scott] can cleave votes, it’s a really big deal. Politically, it makes [Scott] a very interesting VP pick.”

The Great Opportunity PAC, which supports Scott’s agenda, is launching a $14.3 million campaign to help court black voters, according to a memo from the PAC obtained by NPR.

Most of the money will go toward voter outreach, but millions will also be spent on advertising and digital marketing as well as