Incumbent Democratic Delegate Don Scott was first elected to represent the 80th District in the House of Delegates in 2019. With district lines redrawn, he will now run for the 88th district. He is the current leader of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus. Leader Scott is originally from Houston, Texas, and graduated from Texas A&M University. He later joined the U.S. Navy and earned a law degree from Louisiana State University after leaving the Navy. Leader Scott founded his own law firm and is a member of the NAACP and VFW. He and his wife live in Portsmouth with their daughter.

In 1994, Leader Scott was convicted of drug charges and served seven years in federal prison. He believes in second chances and works to reform the criminal justice system to reduce its harmful impact on communities of color. He co-patroned the House bill to legalize marijuana and wants to ensure that legalization will benefit communities ravaged by the drug war. He voted to abolish the death penalty in 2021 and unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to decriminalize certain drugs. He also co-patroned the constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to returning citizens this year as well.

As a resident of a coastal area, Leader Scott understands the urgency of the climate crisis. In 2020, he supported the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, which reduces carbon emissions from power plants and provides protection to regions experiencing flooding issues. Leader Scott advocates for incentivizing electric vehicle use for marginalized communities and creating infrastructure to support electric vehicles. In 2020, he voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which commits the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy by 2050.

Leader Scott believes in keeping communities safe by passing common sense measures to reduce gun violence. In 2020, he voted for universal background checks, keeping guns out of the wrong hands with extreme risk protection orders, and restoring a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. Additionally, he voted to pass legislation to increase penalties for allowing minors to access guns. In the last session, he co-sponsored HB 2387, which would establish a refundable income tax credit for firearm safety devices and voted no on HB 509, which would repeal the extreme risk protection order law.

Leader Scott wants working families in Virginia to live with dignity and supports raising the minimum wage. He advocated to expand protections offered to tenants during the pandemic to remain in place when the pandemic is over. He also wants to make the pursuit of higher education more affordable so people have more job opportunities and voted for the Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back “G3” program, which offers free tuition at community colleges for low- and middle-income students who study in certain fields.

Leader Scott is running unopposed, but due to his support of criminal justice reform, the environment, gun violence prevention, and working families, he is the progressive choice in this race. Close Window