Senator Tim Scott’s mystery girlfriend has been one of the better-kept secrets in politics. Seriously, even his friends were reportedly unaware that he was seeing someone. But on Wednesday night he made it debate stage official.
Following the debate, Scott was spotted standing beside a blond woman in NBC’s post-debate coverage. He later confirmed to news outlets that the woman was in fact his girlfriend of about a year.
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So what is the mystery woman’s name, and who is she? Well, Scott confirmed to Axios that his girlfriend is Mindy Noce, a design and renovation manager in Charleston, North Carolina.
For months, Scott, an ultra-religious “family values” candidate, has been plagued by speculation about his relationship with people questioning why he was single at 58 years old. Axios and the Washington Post both reported that donors were wary of supporting Scott because of his unmarried status.
Scott’s cryptic answers about his relationship probably haven’t helped matters. He has repeatedly denied requests to share her name, and a Washington Post interview revealed that several of his friends were unaware that he was in a relationship.
For his part, Scott has been adamant that his relationship status shouldn’t matter. “The fact that half of America’s adult population is single for the first time, to suggest that somehow being married or not married is going to be the determining factor of whether you’re a good president or not — it sounds like we’re living in 1963 and not 2023,” Scott told Axios in May.
It’s likely Scott wanted to get ahead of the speculation about his relationship ahead of the Iowa Caucus, which has more or less declared his last stand.
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