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Don Scott, Speaker the Virginia Home of Delegates, has had a meteoric rise within the Statehouse. The Delegates unanimously voted him in as Speaker on Wednesday.
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Don Scott, Speaker the Virginia Home of Delegates, has had a meteoric rise within the Statehouse. The Delegates unanimously voted him in as Speaker on Wednesday.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
The Virginia Basic Meeting unanimously elected Democrat Don Scott as home speaker on Wednesday, making him the primary Black speaker within the Virginia Home of Delegates’ historical past.
Del. Scott approached the rostrum to cheers and a standing ovation as he took the oath of workplace and commenced his time period because the chief of the Home.
“My first instant emotion is simply gratitude. I am very grateful,” mentioned Scott, tearing up as he thanked his 88 yr outdated mom and his spouse, watching from the gallery.
“The historic nature of this second will not be misplaced on me,” he advised the Home.
“I pray that it’s a proud second for all of us, as we nominate Delegate Don Scott as our subsequent speaker of the home,” mentioned Del. Luke E. Torian in his nomination speech.
“Over 400 years in the past, individuals who regarded like Delegate Scott gave their sweat blood and tears to construct this Capitol,” Del. Torian elaborated. “And I might say that’s in all probability solely proper and becoming and applicable that 400 years later, an individual of colour, an African American, whose ancestors helped to construct this capital now stands to assist lead this Home of Delegates.”
From jail to politics
Scott says the Navy ships docked in his district, just like the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), are a reminder of a name to public service that began along with his time within the Navy as a younger man.
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Scott says the Navy ships docked in his district, just like the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), are a reminder of a name to public service that began along with his time within the Navy as a younger man.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
Scott, a 58 year-old Navy veteran and lawyer representing the Southeastern Virginia metropolis of Portsmouth, shortly distinguished himself within the Democratic Caucus partially because of his unconventional path to the statehouse.
As a legislation pupil, Scott was convicted on a drug-related cost in 1994 and spent almost eight years incarcerated in federal jail. After his launch, Scott constructed a profitable profession as a trial lawyer in Portsmouth, which put him within the public eye and drew consideration to his previous.
In 2018, whereas within the midst of defending a city councilman accused of forgery, a neighborhood reporter discovered of Scott’s time in jail and contacted him for a narrative. Scott hadn’t tried to maintain his conviction a secret, however now it was extensively recognized, and on the front-page of the Sunday paper.
“When you’ve got a conviction, which I had a felony conviction that is now 30 years outdated, you by no means actually really feel comfy,” Scott advised NPR, from his workplace in Portsmouth. “You all the time really feel like it’s a must to watch out on how far you may go and you place limits on your self.”
That modified for Scott when a buddy reached out after studying the article.
“You are free now,” Scott remembers the buddy texting. “So no matter you wish to do now, you are able to do it.”
And what Scott wished to do was run for workplace.
Scott credit the ladies in his life, together with his spouse, Dr. Mellanda Y. Colson Scott, for restoring his self-confidence and ambition after jail.
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Scott credit the ladies in his life, together with his spouse, Dr. Mellanda Y. Colson Scott, for restoring his self-confidence and ambition after jail.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
A platform constructed on private expertise
Scott received his first race for the Virginia Home in 2019. He ran on a platform of prison justice reform, formed by his time on either side of the authorized system. Scott says, these experiences gave him one other edge on the marketing campaign path, too.
“I used to all the time say the worst factor that may occur to me won’t be dropping an election,” he muses.
Scott grew up in Texas; considered one of six kids raised by a single mom who struggled to make ends meet. Scott remembers meals of mayonnaise sandwiches and lengthy hours on the native library, which his mom leaned on free of charge childcare. The younger Scott became a voracious reader, which he says contributed to him going to school.
After serving within the Navy as a floor warfare officer, Scott went to legislation college. It was there, in his final yr, {that a} federal courtroom convicted him of conspiracy to own with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Scott says that he was solely choosing up cash for a seller he knew, and had no intention of promoting the medication himself. He was sentenced to 10 years, and graduated from legislation college earlier than heading to jail.
Launched almost 8 years later, Scott took a job in Delaware as a case supervisor on a workforce program for folks on public help, and labored his means up the profession ladder. Now married and with a younger daughter, Scott says the fixed journey was exhausting on his household. So he tapped his legislation diploma, handed the bar examination and took a job in a agency, the place he’s nonetheless a associate.
As minority chief, Scott was tasked with retaking the state legislature throughout the 2023 elections. His stump speeches targeted on abortion entry and combatting inside threats to democracy.
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As minority chief, Scott was tasked with retaking the state legislature throughout the 2023 elections. His stump speeches targeted on abortion entry and combatting inside threats to democracy.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
Headwinds flip to headway within the Virginia Capitol
Scott entered the Basic Meeting in 2020 and began introducing laws on prison justice reform. He introduced nearly a dozen bills to vary the commonwealth’s parole, data expungement, and probation insurance policies. However the freshman delegate shortly ran right into a roadblock: his personal Democratic occasion, which held the bulk within the Virginia Statehouse on the time and killed Scott’s payments, almost all upon their first committee listening to.
Then, issues shifted.
Not lengthy into Scott’s first time period, the homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked protests in state capitals throughout the nation. Abruptly, the problems Scott had tried to deal with have been prime of thoughts in Richmond.
Scott revived a few of his outdated payments on earned sentence credit and restricted probation, which passed this time.
Going toe-to-toe with Virginia’s conservatives
In legislative periods, Scott’s confrontational model filled with quips and asides on the ground contributed to his fast rise throughout the Democratic caucus.
Early in 2022, Scott took on Gov. Glenn Youngkin after the Republican arrange a “tipline” for Virginians to anonymously report educators for instructing so-called “divisive ideas” like Important Race Principle.
“What I’ve seen from his day one actions will not be somebody who’s a person of religion, not a Christian, however somebody who desires to divide the Commonwealth,” Scott proclaimed to the Virginia Home of Delegates, amid boos and jeers from the Republican facet of the aisle.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin got here to see Scott in his workplace after the Delegate criticized the Gov.’s insurance policies on vital race concept.
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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin got here to see Scott in his workplace after the Delegate criticized the Gov.’s insurance policies on vital race concept.
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Scott took it in stride. “I do know the reality hurts. I do not wish to make you cry, like saying ‘vital race concept,’ as a result of I do know it hurts your emotions.”
Scott says quickly after that, Youngkin, who typically speaks publicly about his religion, requested Scott to the governor’s mansion.
“I mentioned, he ain’t the principal and I ain’t a pupil,” laughs Scott. “If you wish to see me, come over right here. And to his credit score, he got here, he got here to see me.”
The alternate raised Scott’s profile once more, and fewer than six months later, he was chosen as home minority chief. After serving simply three legislative periods, Scott was now accountable for taking again the chamber from Republicans within the 2023 election.
Constructing on Black historical past on the Virginia Statehouse
Virginia Democrats did win management of the legislature final fall, and selected Scott as their nominee for speaker.
Earlier than he headed to Richmond for the primary day of the brand new legislative session, Scott gathered supporters in his district for a sendoff occasion.
As Scott spoke to the gang, he took a second to understand his rise: from the kid of a poor single mom, to chief of America’s first statehouse. He expressed gratitude to the Black legislators who served earlier than him.
“We did not even see ourselves ever even elevating our hand to run for speaker of the home, not to mention obtain it,” he recounted them telling him after his nomination.
“So I am so grateful that I get the chance standing on these giants,” Scott advised the gang. “And need y’all to, if you see me within the room, perceive I carry all of y’all with me.”
Scott additionally took a second to acknowledge the enslaved Virginians who built the state Capitol.
Don Scott thanks his supporters throughout a sendoff occasion in his house district, earlier than heading to Richmond for the opening of the 2024 legislative session.
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Don Scott thanks his supporters throughout a sendoff occasion in his house district, earlier than heading to Richmond for the opening of the 2024 legislative session.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
“Each time I stroll into that Capitol y’all – and that is true, I promise you – I see ghosts,” he advised the gang.
“I see our ancestors who have been in there, who have been emptying folks’s urine and emptying the spittoons, constructing the buildings, breaking their backs whereas folks made selections about whether or not they have been human or not.”
That historical past continues with Scott’s ascension as the primary Black speaker.
Jahd Khalil is a reporter for VPM Information
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