Tim Scott shifts resources to Iowa as campaign sputters

Tim Scott is moving nearly all of his resources to Iowa in a bid to reenergize his faltering presidential campaign.

The South Carolina senator’s campaign announced the move to staff during a call Monday afternoon, according to two people with knowledge of the plan. Details on the shift in strategy were first published by the Des Moines Register.

The announcement — the first major reset of Scott’s campaign — comes with Scott polling at just under 2 percent nationally in the Republican primary, and as some prominent Republican allies express disappointment in the trajectory of his presidential bid. While Scott on Monday told reporters he was confident he would appear on the Nov. 8 debate stage (“We’ll be in Miami,” he said after a speech at a church in Chicago), his campaign has yet to announce meeting the Republican National Committee’s 70,000 donor requirement to do so.

POLITICO reported on Sunday that Scott’s campaign said the RNC confirmed he had met the polling requirements for the debate, thanks in part to a little-noticed national poll that placed him at 4 percent last month. And the campaign has also upped its earned media strategy, booking Scott on a number of mainstream television shows over the last two weeks, after spending the summer appearing only on conservative programs.

According to a person with knowledge of Scott’s plan, beginning after the November debate, Scott will travel across the state every week ahead of the caucuses, the campaign will double its staff on the ground in Iowa and they will open a new office in West Des Moines. The campaign will deploy more staff and resources to Iowa in the coming weeks, the person confirmed.