Republican Presidential candidate Tim Scott announces he is dropping out of the 2024 race

US Senator Tim Scott announced Sunday that he is withdrawing from the US presidential race, saying voters had given him a clear message of "not now."

The South Carolina lawmaker, who was running to become the first Black Republican president, had been struggling to rise above the pack in the party's crowded field.

Polling in sixth place among Republican primary candidates, the 58-year-old had only 2.5 percent of the vote, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent major opinion polls.