Don Scott becomes first Black Speaker in Virginia Legislature’s 400-year history

Del. Don Scott, a rising star among Virginia Democrats with a unique story, was voted in as speaker of the Virginia Statehouse.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Soon after Virginia’s General Assembly gavels into session tomorrow, it will have a new House speaker – Democrat Don Scott. He’ll be the first Black speaker in the Virginia Legislature’s 400-year history. VPM’s Jahd Khalil recently spent time with Scott in his home district and brings us this profile on the politician’s atypical journey to the highest seat in the Virginia Statehouse.

JAHD KHALIL, BYLINE: In 2018, Don Scott was a successful trial lawyer in Portsmouth, Va. He was representing a city councilman charged with forgery. That put him in the public eye.

DON SCOTT: A reporter wanted to do a story, said, hey, you’ve gone to jail before. Is that true? And I told him, yes. If you want to get the full story, come see me.

KHALIL: Scott told the reporter he was convicted on a drug-related charge while in law school in 1994 and was incarcerated for nearly eight years. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but now the story was on the front page of the Sunday paper.

SCOTT: I remember receiving a text message from a good friend of mine. He texted me and said, you free now. So whatever you want to do now, you can do it. But it kind of did make me feel relieved, like, so now the people – everybody knows. So either they’re going to be with me or they’re not.

KHALIL: Scott’s personal history being public knowledge presented an opportunity – to go into politics.

SCOTT: I used to always say, the worst thing that will happen to me will not be losing an election. So I think it gave me an advantage.

KHALIL: He won his first race for the Virginia House in 2019. He ran on criminal justice reform, shaped by his time on both sides of the legal system. Once there, he continued to advocate for automatic restoration of voting rights for former felons. His own rights were restored in 2013 by…