Official Congressional portrait of Tim Scott, who will replace Jim DeMint in the Senate. (Wikimedia Commons)

The New York Times reported the announcement came around noon ET from the State House in Columbia. 

Haley had also considered ex-wife of former Gov. Mark Sanford, Jenny Sanford, but eventually settled on "a lawmaker with a strong conservative voting record," and "very similar views to Mr. DeMint on all matters of public policy," according to the Times.

With two years in Congress already under his belt, 47-year-old Scott is slated to become the seventh black senator. His to-be predecessor DeMint announced earlier this month he will retire to run the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Read the full story here, and more of Neon Tommy's U.S. Senate coverage here.

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