Thomas Beaumont/Associated Press

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says it's not “the end of our story” despite Donald Trump's easy primary victory in South Carolina, her home state where the onetime governor had long suggested her competitiveness with the former president would show.

Tim Scott is the only Black Republican presidential candidate who's campaigning aggressively these days in early-voting Iowa. The state is majority white, and the South Carolina senator is betting that his upbeat message of personal responsibility and his focus on his Christian faith are good fits for Iowa Republicans.

Iowa Democrats are proposing a novel way to get around their demotion from the leadoff spot on the party's presidential nominating calendar: They would still put on the first-in-the-nation caucuses but would be open to withholding the results until after other states have their contests. The creative approach is the latest effort by the Iowa Democratic Party to claw back the prized slot it held for nearly 50 years until chaos during the state's 2020 presidential caucuses led the Democratic National Committee to reorder the calendar.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina says conservatives are "starved for hope," as he tries to present a more positive vision for the future than his potential rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Scott told The Associated Press on Wednesday that voters he has spoken with respond favorably to his optimistic outlook for the country and his conservative ideals. He announced earlier Wednesday that he would be forming an exploratory committee for president. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, was in Iowa on Wednesday for a day of political meetings with with evangelical pastors and Christian home-school parents, both subsets of the leadoff Iowa caucuses' influential Christian conservative base.

As Sen. Tim Scott weighs a potential 2024 presidential candidacy, the South Carolina Republican was in Iowa on Wednesday delivering a message of "a new American sunrise." It's a positive vision that sets him apart from some possible rivals who have focused more on railing against cultural divides. "I see 330 million Americans getting back to celebrating our shared blessings again, tolerating our differences again, and having each other's backs again," Scott plans to say at Drake University in Des Moines, according to advance excerpts provided to The Associated Press.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may be months away from publicly declaring his presidential intentions, but his potential rivals aren't holding back. A half dozen high-profile Republican White House prospects have begun courting top political operatives in states like New Hampshire and Iowa. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, the only announced candidate so far, is launching regular attacks against DeSantis while locking down key staff and endorsements in South Carolina.

Democrats may be moving toward shaking up their presidential nominating process starting in 2024. They're poised to boot Iowa from the lead-off spot as part of a broader effort to allow to go earlier less overwhelmingly white states that better reflect the party's diverse electorate. The Democratic National Committee rule-making arm is delaying the decision until after the November midterm election. But rules committee members say the party is leaning toward having either New Hampshire or Nevada go first - or perhaps on the same day. South Carolina would move from fourth to third. That'd free up a larger, midwestern state to perhaps go next, with Michigan and Minnesota making strong cases.

The polls were closed in Iowa for less than 48 hours when South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was shaking hands and posing for pictures with eastern Iowa Republicans at a Cedar Rapids country club last week. Scott is one of the many Republicans testing their presidential ambitions; at least a half-dozen GOP presidential prospects are planning Iowa visits this summer now that the state's June primary has come and gone.