Trey Gowdy and Tim Scott are two political rising stars, both from the Palmetto state. They had very different upbringings, but shared core principles that guided their lives and allowed them to become important policy-makers.
When the two men were up for a vacated Senator seat in 2012, they didn’t snipe and maneuver for the position. Instead they showered each other with praise. Gowdy said of Scott: “He’s the person you want living next door to you. He’s the person you want executing your will. He’s the one you want teaching your kids Sunday school.”
Scott said of Gowdy: “This process has reinforced the truth that he is a better man.”
Now Gowdy and Scott will be collaborating on a book together.
From the Post and Courier:
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy are best friends in Washington, and now the two South Carolina Republicans are preparing to cement the story of their bond in writing.
[…]
“We’re still in the middle of developing chapters,” he said, adding that they are getting some help from professional writers.
Scott said the project began with “Trey wanting me to write an autobiography. I didn’t want to write an autobiography.”
The compromise was to write something together.
“We’re two very different people — two different styles, a lot of things that are polar opposites except we happen to have core principles which make the friendship work very well,” he said.
Scott, who is black, described himself as “a poor kid from North Charleston, a single parent household, mired in poverty.”
Gowdy, who is white and from Spartanburg, is “a doctor’s son, mom and dad in the house, sisters,” Scott said.
[…]
A recent blurb in Publisher’s Weekly says the book is set for April 2018 publication by WordServe Literary Group, a Christian publisher.
The two elaborated further on their unique friendship.
From Greenville Online:
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy drew upon his close friendship with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott as an example of bringing people together through hopeful messages at a religious event Thursday night.
Gowdy was a featured speaker at a Q Commons event, a faith-based series of speeches focused on discussing how to bring people together in a “divided nation.” In his speech, Gowdy recalled a dinner he had with Scott, who he called his “best friend in politics.”
“He’s an African-American man from Charleston, and I’m a middle aged white guy from the Upstate, so we’re not two people you would immediately put together,” Gowdy said.
At that dinner, Scott told Gowdy that Scott’s grandfather would read the newspaper while sitting with him at the breakfast table each morning. Seeing that, Scott told Gowdy, was one thing that inspired Scott to pursue public service. Gowdy related to that, saying his father would do the same thing, and it similarly motivated him. The difference between their two experiences, Scott replied, was that Scott’s grandfather actually did not know how to read, but pretended to read each morning.
“He faked it the entire time, and we lived in the house together,” Gowdy recalled Scott saying.
“[Scott’s grandfather] died last year at 93, still unable to read, but he went from seeing his family picking cotton in Charleston to picking an office in Congress,” Gowdy said.
That story was an example of communicating a message of hope, Gowdy said, which he said he believes is imperative in connecting with others both through faith and beyond religious and political barriers.
Gowdy and Scott, both members of Donald Trump’s transition team, are examples of how public servants can work together and bridge gaps.
Here’s hoping their book is a bestseller.