If Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) won outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) Senate seat, he would back the same policies as DeMint, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said Friday.
Cleaver's comment came a day after DeMint announced that he would step down in January and become president of the conservative Heritage Foundation. Scott has been floated as a possible successor for DeMint's seat.
"Tim Scott is a conservative, a thousand times more conservative than me. But I like Tim Scott because he's a good guy, he doesn't say crazy things, he doesn't attack people with nasty labels. So he's a good guy," Cleaver said on MSNBC.
But, Cleaver said in the same interview, in terms of policy positions Scott is similar to DeMint.
"There are policy changes that have got to take place and Tim Scott is going to have essentially the same policies that Jim DeMint had. He's going to embrace those policies," Cleaver said.
Cleaver added that it was important not to assume that Republicans could win over African-American voters by just electing African-American politicians.
"Keep in mind however that, and I think this is a mistake that the Republican Party has made, they assume if they reach out to African Americans, meaning run radio spots on black radio, that that's reaching out," Cleaver said.
