A conservative Republican congressman from South Carolina has been named to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat representing the southern state.

Representative Tim Scott was named Monday by the state's governor, Nikki Haley, to take over the seat being vacated by the recent, unexpected resignation of Senator Jim DeMint. He is leaving the Senate to assume control of a conservative think tank in Washington.

With his appointment, Scott will become the only African-American currently serving in the 100-member Senate. He also will be the first black senator in 130 years from the South, the U.S. region that was the focus of the country's sometimes violent conflict over the civil rights of blacks in the 1960s.

The 47-year-old Scott, who owns an insurance agency, will fill the Senate seat for two years before facing a 2014 election for the last two years of DeMint's six-year term.