About the Race
This election shares a ballot with the US Presidential election held on November 3, 2020. Incumbent Virginia politician and longtime incumbent, Congressman Bobby Scott (D), is running for re-election against John Collick (R), a retired Marine Sergeant and small business owner.
About the District
Virginia’s 3rd congressional district stretches across parts of Hampton Roads and encompasses all of the cities of Franklin, Newport News, and Portsmouth, as well as all of Isle of Wight county. It also contains parts of the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Suffolk. In 2012, the 3rd district was found to have been unconstitutionally gerrymandered based on race. It was redrawn for the 2016 elections to exclude parts of Richmond which had previously been included in the district. The district is reliably Democratic, even since redistricting. Bobby Scott ran unopposed for re-election in 2018, and Senator Tim Kaine won the district with 70% of the vote.
Recommendation
A lifelong statesman, Democratic Representative Bobby Scott has represented Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District since 1993. Before his election to federal office, Rep. Scott was a member of the Virginia Senate from 1983 to 1993 and the House of Delegates from 1978 to 1983. When he was first elected, Scott was the first African-American to represent Virginia in Congress since Reconstruction. He grew up in Newport News, but moved to Massachusetts for his education after Virginia schools closed instead of integrating after the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. There, he attended Harvard College and Boston College Law School.
Rep. Scott is the Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and also serves on the House Judiciary Committee. During his tenure, Scott has consistently advocated for labor rights.
In 2020, he sponsored the “Protecting to the Right to Organize Act,” which was passed by the House. The PRO Act strengthens workers’ rights to strike, collectively bargain, form unions, and have better working conditions. Scott sponsored legislation to protect all workers from COVID-19 and to help laid-off and furloughed workers keep their job-based insurance during the pandemic. In 2019, he championed the “Raise the Wage Act” to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
Scott co-chairs the Voting Rights Caucus. He has called on the federal government to protect the integrity of the elections during the pandemic and to end voter suppression. He also supports restoring the Voting Rights Act.
Although a supporter of a single-payer healthcare system, Scott worked with members of Congress to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. He co-sponsored legislation in 2020 to protect the ACA from the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare. His bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, sought to expand Medicaid coverage so more Americans are insured during the coronavirus pandemic, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and reduce health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Scott has regularly introduced legislation aimed at criminal justice reform. He co-sponsored the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” in response to the police murder of George Floyd. His legislation bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, sets national standards to hold police officers accountable for misconduct, prohibits racial profiling, and establishes a national data collection system on police conduct. Before his 2020 efforts to reform the criminal justice system, Scott co-sponsored the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act in 2015 and 2017. The SAFE Justice Act was a comprehensive reform aimed at reducing the country’s prison population by cutting mandatory sentence minimums, reducing recidivism, stopping overcriminalization, and using evidence-based crime prevention strategies.
Representing an area that is experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand with rising sea levels, Rep. Scott supports the Green New Deal. He has co-sponsored bills that increase federal investments in renewable energy spending and opposes offshore oil and gas exploration in Virginia and throughout the nation’s coasts. Congressman Scott also voted to impeach Donald Trump in 2019.
Rep. Scott is facing a challenge from Republican John Collick. A Marine veteran, Collick is a conservative who opposes abortion access. Collick is convinced that the government will confiscate guns from citizens and opposes an assault weapons ban. He believes that America should do more to control immigration into the country by placing biometric controls on people entering the U.S. He also supports using public money to pay for private education.
Due to his record serving the people in his district and fighting for their rights, Rep. Bobby Scott is the most progressive candidate for Virginia’s 3rd District.
About the Race
This election shares a ballot with the US Presidential election held on November 3, 2020. Incumbent Virginia politician and longtime incumbent, Congressman Bobby Scott (D), is running for re-election against John Collick (R), a retired Marine Sergeant and small business owner.
About the District
Virginia’s 3rd congressional district stretches across parts of Hampton Roads and encompasses all of the cities of Franklin, Newport News, and Portsmouth, as well as all of Isle of Wight county. It also contains parts of the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Suffolk. In 2012, the 3rd district was found to have been unconstitutionally gerrymandered based on race. It was redrawn for the 2016 elections to exclude parts of Richmond which had previously been included in the district. The district is reliably Democratic, even since redistricting. Bobby Scott ran unopposed for re-election in 2018, and Senator Tim Kaine won the district with 70% of the vote.
Recommendation
A lifelong statesman, Democratic Representative Bobby Scott has represented Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District since 1993. Before his election to federal office, Rep. Scott was a member of the Virginia Senate from 1983 to 1993 and the House of Delegates from 1978 to 1983. When he was first elected, Scott was the first African-American to represent Virginia in Congress since Reconstruction. He grew up in Newport News, but moved to Massachusetts for his education after Virginia schools closed instead of integrating after the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. There, he attended Harvard College and Boston College Law School.
Rep. Scott is the Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and also serves on the House Judiciary Committee. During his tenure, Scott has consistently advocated for labor rights.
In 2020, he sponsored the “Protecting to the Right to Organize Act,” which was passed by the House. The PRO Act strengthens workers’ rights to strike, collectively bargain, form unions, and have better working conditions. Scott sponsored legislation to protect all workers from COVID-19 and to help laid-off and furloughed workers keep their job-based insurance during the pandemic. In 2019, he championed the “Raise the Wage Act” to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
Scott co-chairs the Voting Rights Caucus. He has called on the federal government to protect the integrity of the elections during the pandemic and to end voter suppression. He also supports restoring the Voting Rights Act.
Although a supporter of a single-payer healthcare system, Scott worked with members of Congress to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. He co-sponsored legislation in 2020 to protect the ACA from the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare. His bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, sought to expand Medicaid coverage so more Americans are insured during the coronavirus pandemic, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and reduce health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Scott has regularly introduced legislation aimed at criminal justice reform. He co-sponsored the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” in response to the police murder of George Floyd. His legislation bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, sets national standards to hold police officers accountable for misconduct, prohibits racial profiling, and establishes a national data collection system on police conduct. Before his 2020 efforts to reform the criminal justice system, Scott co-sponsored the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act in 2015 and 2017. The SAFE Justice Act was a comprehensive reform aimed at reducing the country’s prison population by cutting mandatory sentence minimums, reducing recidivism, stopping overcriminalization, and using evidence-based crime prevention strategies.
Representing an area that is experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand with rising sea levels, Rep. Scott supports the Green New Deal. He has co-sponsored bills that increase federal investments in renewable energy spending and opposes offshore oil and gas exploration in Virginia and throughout the nation’s coasts. Congressman Scott also voted to impeach Donald Trump in 2019.
Rep. Scott is facing a challenge from Republican John Collick. A Marine veteran, Collick is a conservative who opposes abortion access. Collick is convinced that the government will confiscate guns from citizens and opposes an assault weapons ban. He believes that America should do more to control immigration into the country by placing biometric controls on people entering the U.S. He also supports using public money to pay for private education.
Due to his record serving the people in his district and fighting for their rights, Rep. Bobby Scott is the most progressive candidate for Virginia’s 3rd District.