Don Scott is an American politician. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he is a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, representing the 80th district. He was elected Minority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates on June 1, 2022.

Biography

Scott was born and raised in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

as one of six children, and graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

with a degree in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. Following his undergraduate education, Scott served as a Naval Officer. Following his honorable discharge, he obtained a J.D. degree from Louisiana State University Law School. In 1994, Scott was arrested on federal drug charges, and served seven years in prison. Later, he acknowledged his mistakes, and said that the experience motivated him, and showed him injustices of the legal system. Following his release from prison, Scott took an entry-level position at KRA Corporation, where he eventually became senior vice president and relocated to

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

. In 2015, Scott was admitted to the bar and opened his own firm, where he practices criminal defense, family law, and civil cases. In 2021, Scott donated a kidney to his next-door neighbor,

Virginia Circuit Court The Virginia Circuit Courts are the state trial courts of general jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Circuit Courts have jurisdiction to hear civil and criminal cases. For civil cases, the courts have authority to try cases with an a ...

Judge Johnny E. Morrison.

Political career

2019

Scott filed to run to represent the 80th district in the

2019 Virginia House of Delegates election The 2019 Virginia House of Delegates election was held on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, concurrently with the elections for the Senate of Virginia, to elect members to the 161st Virginia General Assembly. All 100 seats in the Virginia House of De ...

after the resignation of Matthew James, who was appointed by Governor

Ralph Northam Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

to an executive position. Scott was unopposed in the primaries, and in the general election defeated

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

James W. Evans and

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Ryan Benton with 66.01% of the vote.

2020

In March 2020, Scott endorsed former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Primary.

2021

Scott was unopposed in the primaries, and in the general election defeated

Deanna Stanton with 66.01% of the vote.

2022

After his party lost 7 seats and control of the House, Scott led a party rebellion to oust former

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

and party leader

Eileen Filler-Corn Eileen Robin Filler-Corn (born June 5, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Minority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates from January to April 2022, a position she previously held from 2019 to 2020. She previously s ...

. Along with fellow Delegates

Dan Helmer Daniel Isaac Helmer (born September 27, 1981) is an American politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2018, he lost the Democratic primary for . In 2019, he successfully ran for the Virginia House of Delegates in district 40, defea ...

and

Sally Hudson Sally L. Hudson is an economist and state legislator in Virginia. Elected in 2019, she is the first woman to represent the 57th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes all of t ...

, all of whom were first elected in 2019, Scott led a vote of no confidence. However, the Democratic Delegates could not agree on who to install as the new leader so the position went vacant for over a month, while Caucus Chair

Charniele Herring Charniele LeRhonda Herring ( ; born September 25, 1969) is an American politician. She has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2009, representing the Virginia's 46th House of Delegates district, 46th district, made up of portions of th ...

, who sustained her own vote of no confidence, went as acting leader, until Scott defeated her on June 1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Don Living people Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Politicians from Houston Politicians from Portsmouth, Virginia Texas A&M University alumni Louisiana State University Law Center alumni African-American state legislators in Virginia 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American politicians