<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The path to the 2024 US presidential election began almost as soon as last November's midterm elections ended - and several candidates are waiting in the wings.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Former President Donald Trump has announced he will run in the party's nominating contest, vowing to "make America great and glorious again".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Trump remains the favourite choice of Republican voters, but his legal troubles and his role in an underwhelming midterm election performance for the party have left him vulnerable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ex-president, who will be 78 when the general election begins, could face a stiff challenge from a coterie of Republican hopefuls, including some who once backed him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Senator Tim Scott has a decades-long career in South Carolina politics and entered the race in May with nearly $22m (£18m) - more than his rivals - in cash on hand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only black man to ever serve in both chambers of Congress, the 57-year-old has represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2013.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Scott is the grandson of a cotton field worker and the son of a single mother, and he has often spoken of how his family rose "from cotton to Congress" in a lifetime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He launched his 2024 bid vowing to turn around "a nation in retreat" and revive America's "culture of greatness".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well-liked among his colleagues, he quickly earned endorsements from two fellow senators, including John Thune, the chamber's second highest-ranking Republican.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But he's not the only top South Carolina Republican with a hat in the ring.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nikki Haley announced her bid for the presidency in mid-February, becoming the first major Republican candidate to commit to taking on Mr Trump.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once considered one of the Republican Party's brightest young prospects, Ms Haley, 51, has kept a lower profile in recent years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Born in South Carolina to Punjabi Sikh immigrants, Ms Haley became the youngest governor in the country in 2009.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She earned national attention in 2015 after calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite saying she was "not a fan" of Mr Trump in 2016, she later accepted his nomination to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, a tenure marked by her dramatic exit from a UN Security Council meeting as a Palestinian envoy was speaking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Her campaign, which includes a call for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old, stresses the need for "a new generation" of US leaders. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>