Tim Scott Made His Most Romantic Gesture to His Fiancée on Fox Nation

Tim Scott, a contender to be Donald Trump’s running mate, had a big weekend. On Friday, the South Carolina senator, who ended his own presidential campaign in November, endorsed Trump. He appeared with Trump onstage in New Hampshire, in a clear blow to Nikki Haley, who appointed Scott to his Senate seat in 2012.

But the biggest news (one hopes) for the senator came from a chilly visit to the beach the next evening. The 58-year-old Scott, perpetual bachelor and former proud adult virgin, is now engaged.

According to the Washington Post, which first reported the news Sunday night, Scott proposed to Mindy Noce, an interior designer he met at church and had been dating for about a year, on the beach in Kiawah Island in South Carolina. He had chosen a conventional setting after first contemplating popping the question after a game of pickleball.

But he wasn’t done being romantic. On Sunday Night in America, the Fox News program hosted by Trey Gowdy, a former South Carolina congressman, Scott made about as big a romantic gesture as you can on a Fox News show—by announcing that he had said no to an invitation from Donald Trump to make the ask.

The segment began with a discussion of how great Trump is, but then Gowdy wrapped up Scott’s appearance with the announcement that “the world most eligible bachelor is no longer a bachelor,” and “hearts [are] breaking all over the world.”

Scott responded with a chuckle. “As a matter of fact, when the former president called and said, ‘I really want you to endorse me, and I’d love for you to be somewhere on Saturday,’ I said, ‘Off the table—I’ve got something more important to do on Saturday,’ ” he said. “It’s the second most important decision you’ll make in a lifetime. Making Jesus Christ the Lord of my life was No. 1. And the woman I’m going to marry, No. 2. And so, going to the beach and getting on my knee and asking Mindy to marry me was so much more important than anything else, and I wanted to make sure that that sacred day would not be disturbed by anything political.”

Even assuming he’s telling the truth about spurning Trump, this news may still be good for Scott’s political prospects. Voters can be uncharitable toward bachelor candidates when it comes to major, national-level contests. Faithful evangelicals, the demographic Scott aims to represent, claim to want family-values candidates. (Trump’s popularity with them, of course, undermines that claim. The former president is twice divorced, has admitted to adultery, has been found liable for sexual assault and lying about it, and has been accused of sexual abuse by more than two dozen women.) If Scott is a potential VP pick, the timing of his engagement could be more politically meaningful than a campaign trail appearance.

But let’s not be cynical here. Scott has, for a while now, made it clear that he is eager to find a good Christian wife. (In his announcement on social media, Scott cited Proverbs: “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.”) In 2018 he told Politico, “In the right time, I will meet Mrs. Right, and she’ll want to have a couple kids, or she ain’t Mrs. Right.” He brought Noce onto the stage after the Miami presidential primary debate in November, months after telling the Post that he would not bring his girlfriend on the campaign trail without the “intention of marrying her.” He said, at the time, “I hope that happens, to be honest with you.” In his interview with the Post on Sunday, the senator acknowledged that he’d been “very patient and prayerful” and described himself as “really excited and somewhat nervous.”

The two plan on marrying this year, the Post reported. In the shorter term, though, Scott made up for his Saturday absence on the campaign trail by attending Trump’s rally in New Hampshire Monday night and will campaign with him throughout the primary election day on Tuesday. For the couple’s sake, let’s hope Scott schedules his next romantic milestone on a less politically significant week.