The super PAC supporting Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) for the Republican presidential nomination is canceling scheduled TV ads, warning voters aren’t “ready for a Trump alternative,” according to a leaked memo to its donors.
“We aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative,” Trust in the Mission (TIM PAC) co-chair Rob Collins stated in the memo, obtained by NBC News. “We have done the research. We have studied the focus groups. We have been following Tim on the trail. This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting.”
“Starting today, we are going to release all of our Fall media inventory,” Collins added. “We will continue to fully fund our grassroots door knocking, conduit fundraising, event hosting, and earned media efforts.”
The memo went out hours after Scott’s campaign reported raising just $4.6 million between July and September of this year.
While the campaign has $13.3 million cash on hand, it also spent $12.3 million over the same three-month period.
Meanwhile, TIM PAC reported at the end of July that it had more than $15 million in cash on hand as of the end of June. The super PAC does not have to file its year-end disclosures to the Federal Election Commission until Jan. 31.
However, political campaign finance expert Rob Pyers reported on Twitter that the organization has shelled out nearly $14.8 million on advertising, yard signs and get-out-the-vote efforts since its creation in mid-May.
Former President Donald Trump has consistently polled ahead of all the other candidates in the GOP field by a wide margin. Real Clear Politics’ average currently has the 77-year-old Trump at 58.3% support nationwide, leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by more than 45 percentage points.
Scott is currently in seventh nationally, according to the aggregate, polling at just 2.0%
The decision to stop TV advertisements was made after the primary field did not narrow to a “Scott-Trump head-to-head battle” ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, the memo read.
“At least two thirds of Iowa caucus-goers will make their decision in the six weeks before Caucus Day,” Collins claimed. “Spending heavily on television from now until then would be a waste of money.”
Scott’s campaign insisted Monday it was ready “to take our message into the early states and beyond.”
“From Day One, Tim’s campaign was built for the long haul — powered by the most primary cash on hand and the highest candidate favorability of anyone in the field,” a rep told The Post in a statement. “On issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion, he has been the clearest and strongest voice, leading while others have followed. We’re ready, as ever, to take our message into the early states and beyond.”
