U.S. House of Representatives
, fire department in 2009
Elections 2010 With millions of dollars in campaign donations from national
PACs, Scott challenged Democratic incumbent
Jim Marshall in Georgia's 8th congressional district. He defeated Marshall in the November 2 general election with 53% of the vote to Marshall's 47%. Scott originally planned to campaign for governor of Georgia, announcing his campaign in January 2009. He made headlines for walking more than 1,000 miles around the state in his "Walk of Georgia", introducing a bill to abolish tolls on
Georgia 400 and leading the charge in pressuring Georgia State Attorney General
Thurbert Baker to file suit against the federal government over the
Affordable Care Act. In April 2010, Scott withdrew from the race for governor to run for Congress. In 2010, Scott signed a pledge sponsored by
Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any
global warming legislation that would raise taxes.
2012 During his first term, Scott represented a fairly compact district in the center of the state, from Macon to
Moultrie. Redistricting after the
2010 census made the 8th somewhat more secure for Scott. Notably, a large chunk of the district's black residents were drawn into the neighboring
2nd district. This included most of Macon and surrounding
Bibb County (except for a sliver in the north); Macon had been the heart of the 8th and its predecessors for more than a century. To make up for the loss of population, the General Assembly pushed the 8th all the way to the
Florida border, adding
Thomasville and most of
Valdosta from the old 2nd. The old 8th already had a significant Republican lean, with a
Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10. The new 8th had a CPVI of R+15, making it the 11th most Republican district in the
Eastern Time Zone and one of the most Republican districts in the country. Scott was unopposed in both the primary and general elections.
2014 Scott was unopposed for a third term.
2016 In 2016, Scott faced a Democratic opponent for the first time since his initial run for the seat, private investigator James Neal Harris. Scott defeated Harris with 67.6% of the vote, carrying every county in the district.
2018 Scott was unopposed for a fifth term.
2020 On June 9, Scott defeated his Republican primary opponents, Vance Dean and Danny Ellyson, with 89.81% of the vote. For only the second time since his initial run for the seat, he faced a Democratic challenger, Lindsay Holliday. Scott defeated Holliday with 64.52% of the vote in the November 3 general election.
2022 In 2022, Scott faced Democrat Darrius Butler and won with 68.58% of the vote.
2024 In 2024, Scott again faced Democrat Darrius Butler and won with 68.92% of the vote.
Tenure Scott was selected by his colleagues as freshman class president for the 112th Congress.
National security and defense Scott's district is home to two
United States Air Force bases:
Moody Air Force Base and
Robins Air Force Base. As a senior member of the
House Armed Services Committee, Scott supports pro-military and defense spending policies. He is also a proponent of the
United States Navy hospital ships. Scott was very vocal on the United States Air Force's decision not to replace the
Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS, which provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Many JSTARS are based at Robins Air Force Base in
Warner Robins, Georgia. While Scott supports the forthcoming
Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS, he contends the Air Force should maintain the capabilities of the JSTARS until the new ABMS systems are in place. In 2018, the Air Force announced that Robins Air Force Base would host the initial elements of the Advanced Battle Management System, a capability which will fuse global air and space intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information. Scott opposed canceling the
F-22. Scott served on the Conference Committees for the Fiscal Year 2018, Fiscal Year 2019, and Fiscal Year 2021
National Defense Authorization Acts. For the 117th Congress, Scott is the only member from Georgia to serve on a Congressional defense committee.
Agriculture Scott served on the Conference Committees for both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. Scott secured provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill to bring broadband investments to rural America. In August 2020,
U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer held two virtual hearings to examine foreign trade policies harming American growers of seasonal and perishable produce, including one with Georgia producers. These hearings were the result of years of requests by Scott and other members of Georgia's and Florida's Congressional delegations to examine the dumping of foreign-subsidized fresh fruits and vegetables into U.S. agricultural markets below the cost of production domestically. Scott unsuccessfully ran against Representatives
Rick Crawford and
Glenn Thompson for Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee for the 117th Congress. Thompson, senior to Scott on the committee, was named Ranking Member by the
House Republican Steering Committee in December 2020.
Legislation On June 15, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law the Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act (Public Law No: 115-184), a bill authored by Scott and supported in the
United States Senate by
Johnny Isakson to require the Department of the Interior to provide outer burial receptacles for veterans' remains buried in a national cemetery administered by the National Park Service. Scott and Representative
Sanford Bishop brokered federal assistance for farmers affected by 2018 and 2019 natural disasters, including $3 billion in agricultural relief for damages from storms and reprogrammed unused funds to be used for future relief efforts. This was included in a disaster assistance package Trump signed into law in June 2019. As a member of the
Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Scott has sponsored and supported numerous sportsmen's and conservation bills. In the 115th Congress, he introduced legislation to modernize the
Pittman–Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to allow state fish and wildlife agencies to use Pittman-Robertson funds for public relations and for constructing, operating, and maintaining public ranges, which passed the House during the 115th Congress. On June 11, 2024, Scott voted (at 6:36 in video) against including H.R.1282 - MAJ Richard Star Act in the FY 25 NDAA. This despite the fact that he is listed as a co-sponsor of the bill.
Speakership election Scott announced his bid for the
October 2023 speakership election on October 13, facing
Jim Jordan of Ohio. He was considered a close ally of House Majority Leader
Steve Scalise who had previously run for the position but withdrew after failing to consolidate the necessary votes. He was ultimately defeated, with Scott garnering 81 votes to Jordan's 124. He subsequently endorsed Jordan for the speakership. On October 20, Scott announced a second bid seeking the Republican nomination following Jim Jordan's failure to be elected speaker after three ballots on the House floor and to secure the party's nomination a third time subsequently.
Current committee assignments For the
119th Congress: •
Committee on Agriculture (Vice Chair) •
Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development •
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit (Chairman) •
Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture •
Committee on Armed Services •
Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations •
Subcommittee on Readiness •
Committee on Rules •
Subcommittee on the Rules and Organization of the House •
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence •
Subcommittee on Central Intelligence Agency •
Subcommittee on National Intelligence Enterprise (Chairman) •
Subcommittee on National Security Agency and Cyber Caucus memberships •
Republican Study Committee •
Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus (former co-chair and House vice chair) • Congressional Cement Caucus •
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus •
Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans •
Congressional Western Caucus Other memberships •
NATO Parliamentary Assembly • Board of Visitors,
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation Stock trades Scott has been a successful stock trader while serving in Congress. He bought 1,000 shares of Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. (FCEL) at $2 per share on October 30, 2020, and sold some shares on December 23, 2020, at $13.42 (a 571% increase), selling the remainder on January 14, 2021, at $17.60 (a 780% increase). The website Unusual Whales follows congressional stock trading and has created a page for Scott's trades. In October 2021,
Business Insider reported that Scott had violated the
Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law, by failing to properly disclose up to $165,000 worth of stock trades made by his wife in
AT&T,
Berkshire Hathaway,
Ford Motor Co., and
Johnson & Johnson. ==Political positions==