--- title: Tim Scott Floats Potential VPs: Sununu, Gowdy, Pompeo description: Scott offered four names when asked for possible running mates at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, including Gov. Chris Sununu and Mike Pompeo canonical: https://time.com/6316153/tim-scott-running-mates-pompeo-sununu-gowdy/ author: Mini Racker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-09-20T19:05:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:53.401Z article:section: Politics og:title: Tim Scott Floats Potential VPs: Sununu, Gowdy, Pompeo og:description: Tim Scott offered four names when asked for possible running mates at a campaign stop, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Mike Pompeo og:url: https://time.com/6316153/tim-scott-running-mates-pompeo-sununu-gowdy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd417245268cba6bb/698a4098cabb1d6e6fe51c83/GettyImages-1501982175.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Attend Merrimack Fourth of July Parade og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tim Scott Floats Potential VPs: Sununu, Gowdy, Pompeo twitter:description: Tim Scott offered four names when asked for possible running mates at a campaign stop, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Mike Pompeo twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd417245268cba6bb/698a4098cabb1d6e6fe51c83/GettyImages-1501982175.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tim Scott Floats Potential Running Mates as He Seeks Traction in New Hampshire > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Attorney General Garland Says The Justice Dept. Will Not Back Down or Be Intimidated [Watch (HLS stream): Attorney General Garland Says The Justice Dept. Will Not Back Down or Be Intimidated](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lRyJ98RB.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2023-09-20. Attorney General Merrick Garlands vows that the Department of Justice will "not be intimated" or back down from current and future investigations. This comes as House Republicans are using a routine oversight hearing to interrogate Garland about what they claim is the “weaponization” of the Justice Department under President Joe Biden._  by [Mini Racker/Windham, NH](https://time.com/author/mini-racker/)  ## Mini Racker/Windham, NH Sep 20, 2023 7:05 PM UTC  Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, attends a parade in Merrimack, NH, on July 4, 2023. Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, attends a parade in Merrimack, NH, on July 4, 2023.Mel Musto—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Mini Racker/Windham, NH](https://time.com/author/mini-racker/)  ## Mini Racker/Windham, NH Sep 20, 2023 7:05 PM UTC Despite lagging in the polls since he launched his presidential bid four months ago, South Carolina SenatorTim Scott sounded almost like a frontrunner on Wednesdaywhen asked at a New Hampshire campaign stop who might be on his shortlist for running mates. “Oh boy,” someone in the audience said through chuckles as the question hung in the air. “Oh boy,” Scott echoed, before rattling off some options: Trey Gowdy, a TV pundit and fellow South Carolinian who served in the House until 2019; John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who was Director of National Intelligence for less than a year during the Trump administration; New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu; and Trump-era Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Scott described the contenders as aligning with his desire to lead "a team anchored in conservatism that wants to make sure that America remains the city on the hill." But with Scott polling around fifth place in national polls and in-state surveys, even some of his supporters are skeptical his campaign will ever need that list. **Read more**: [_How Tim Scott Plans to Stand Out in a GOP That 'Craves Catastrophe'_](https://time.com/6271347/tim-scott-2024-campaign-identity/) ### More From TIME Scott addressed about 50 people at Politics & Eggs, a series that has become a must-visit stop in the Granite State on the presidential campaign trail. He spent much of the event offering subtle contrasts to his own positions and those of the race’s clear frontrunner, Donald Trump, without evermentioning the former President by name. He reiterated his support for a 15-week federal limit on abortion—an issue Trump has recently suggested conservatives should compromise on—while acknowledging the political difficulties of passing one. “I believe that will take my entire first presidency, my first four years, to even get that accomplished,” he said. “We have to win the hearts and minds of the American people. The good news is about 72%, nearly three out of four Americans, agree with a 15-week limit. To get that through Congress, however, it would take the entire four years, likely.” Scott’s abortion stance made his inclusion of Sununu on his VP shortlist even more striking, as the vocally anti-Trump governor is widely viewed within his party as a moderate on abortion. At a bakery up the road, reporters cornered Scott about his shortlist as he waited for a breakfast sandwich. He said that he had talked to Sununu before, but not about the possibility of the governor running for Vice President. Earlier in the morning, Scott tried to clarify his position on labor unions, after seeming to deridestriking United Auto Workers earlier in the week by praising President Ronald Reagan’s decision to fire striking federal workers. Asked about that comment Wednesday, Scott redirected his criticism towards President Joe Biden. “I brought up the Ronald Reagan years because I do think that we need to have, front and center, the example of a president who stands strong and today's president, who stands weak, so weak that he's using your—there's no such thing as a federal dollar, they're all your dollars, our dollars, as citizens—taking $86 billion dollars out of our collective pockets, to use that to shore up the unions, in my opinion, is wrong,” he said. Scott is one of roughly six Republicans expected to make the stage for next week’s second presidential debate. Asked by TIME what he made of Trump’s decision to skip the debate to speak to the strikingautoworkers, Scott said, “I think him not being on the stage is a mistake, but in the end, I'll use that extra time and do the best we can to tell people why we know America can do for anyone what she’s done for me.” State Senator Regina Birdsell, who attended Politics & Eggs because it was in her district and because her campaign manager is working for Scott, says Scott is her second choice for the GOP nomination after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “He's a class act,” Birdsell says of Scott. “He's just a nice person. And for me, he's got the right values.” But being known as the nice guy won’t be enough to tear voters away from the candidates currently at the front of the pack. Asked what voters are saying about Scott, Birdsell replies, “Not much right now. I think it's a little bit early. 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