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NC's Burr backs SC's Scott in 2024 presidential race

Former North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, in Chapel Hill on Wednesday for a pandemic preparedness panel, said South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has his support in the 2024 presidential race.

Posted 2023-09-20T21:07:54+00:00 - Updated 2023-09-20T21:23:51+00:00

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) before the first Republican presidential debate, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. At two of Scott’s events in New Hampshire on Friday, voters expressed disappointment in his debate performance even as they praised his positive message. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

Destinee Patterson

, WRAL reporter

Former U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott has his support in the 2024 presidential race.

Burr, who represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate from January 2005 - January 2023, made his endorsement for the U.S. senator from South Carolina during a pandemic preparedness panel on Wednesday.

"He’s a former colleague of mine in the U.S. Senate," Burr said. "As long as Tim’s in it, I’ll be a Tim Scott supporter."

Scott is one of a dozen Republicans vying for the nomination in a field that is led by former President Donald J. Trump.

While Burr endorsed Trump in 2016, the two have fallen out after Burr was one of a few Republicans who voted to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

About the upcoming election, Burr said, "I hope the American people will engage. It’s an extremely important election cycle to choose our leadership at a very challenging time."