Opinion

Son of the New South

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley made some history Monday by appointing Rep. Tim Scott to the US Senate seat soon to be vacated by retiring incumbent Jim DeMint.

Scott will become the only African-American in the Senate — and the first black Republican senator since Massachusetts’ Ed Brooke left office in 1979.

It’s a rather remarkable moment for South Carolina — the first state to secede from the Union, and where the first battle of the Civil War was fought.

The Palmetto State was also ground zero for much resistance to the civil-rights movement: Then-Gov. Strom Thurmond ran an independent campaign for president in 1948 in opposition to anti-lynching laws and Harry Truman’s integrating the army — before starting a 49-year Senate career.

But the new face of South Carolina could be seen in 2010 when Scott first won his House seat: The 47-year old small businessman and state assembly member defeated Thurmond’s son Paul in the GOP primary.

Scott’s appointment also holds an interesting lesson about contemporary politics.

Haley and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal are the nation’s only Indian-American governors. Both happen to be Republican, as are two Latinos in the Senate, with Texas’ Ted Cruz joining Florida’s Marco Rubio.

Democrats talk diversity.

Republicans deliver.