COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — When Tim Scott was a teenager, a Chick-fil-A manager named John Moniz offered him a sandwich, a job, and four years of indispensable mentoring about how to be a businessman and a citizen. Later, after that helping hand put Scott on a path that eventually led him into politics, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appointed him to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.
Now Scott stands on the precipice of perhaps another breathtaking leap, but once again he will need an assist. The South Carolina senator is one of a handful of prominent people being considered by former President Donald Trump to be his running mate this year.
Scott, a rarity as a Black Republican senator from the South, tells his story with rags-to-riches flourish, crediting Moniz for helping to lift him from a dead-end life before Moniz died suddenly while Scott was in college. But Scott’s own role in taking advantage of the opportunities that came his way is part of the story, too.
From Moniz, Scott says, he learned the ins and outs of business, how to be a good citizen, and less tangible lessons about how, in order to receive, one must first give. Scott put that guidance to use as he made his way from business into politics.