Gov. Nikki Haley Appoints Rep. Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate

U.S. Representative Timothy Eugene Scott of South Carolina was appointed to the Senate by Governor Nikki Haley today, making him the first black Republican to serve in the senate since 1978 and the first black Senator from the South since Reconstruction. Gov. Haley selected him to replace Jim DeMint who is retiring.

“It is a great day for South Carolina. It is a historic day for South Carolina,” Haley, who is South Carolina’s first female governor, said at the statehouse in Columbia.

As the only black U.S. senator, Scott will become one of the most visible and important black and conservative figures in the country.

Read more at the Washington Post.