federal oversight of the aviation industry and multiple safety issues and incidents at boeing. and a scientist at the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health talks about efforts to limit lead and harmful forever in drinking water. join in the conversation live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning on c-span, c-span nowmobile appt c-span.org. quick c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including buckeye broadband. ♪ bucke broadband supports c-span as to public service along th these other

television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. /r >> so help me god, so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. speaker. >> the historic nature of my speakership is not lost on me. this will be the first time in the history of the commonwealth of virginia that we have had a this -- [laughter] and as handsome as this.

[laughter] no, y'all laughing at? it's true. let me stop. it's an honor and prilebe electe first black speaker of the house of delegates 405 years after the founding o the longest continuous democratically elected body in the western hemisphere. hemisphere. also, coincidentally, 405 years after the first enslaved people arrived here. not far from where we stand, down the road in hampton roads. host: virginia speaker don scott, january 10, 2024, wt was that they like for you? speaker scott: it was amazing. exhilarating. it felt like the combination of a lifetime of working hard finally coming to fruition. it was a day of pride.

i was proud of not only of my family and myself, but everyone@ that worked with me and work for me along the way, so it was just an amazing day. one of the greatest days of my life. host: 58 speaker of the virginia house of delegates. first black speaker. speaker scott: it is breathtaking. i think about all the people that came before me and who allowed me to be in this place. i think abtrauma that those ensd people had to endure to get me where i am. that trauma and pain birthed the opportunity that i have right now to serve as speaker, so i don't take that opportunity for granted. i am very proud and feel of resd obligation to make sure i live up to the dreams and goals of those people who came before me. host: you were first elected to the house of delegates in 2019,

and five years later you are speaker. how does that happen? speaker scott: a whole lot of praying. faith. being in the right moment at the right time. and sometimes the wrong time. i have a strong faith in god. i know i wouldn't be here if not for that favor, a very short of that. i know that to do it, even to do it in a long period of time, you have to have some favor, but to do it in the short amount of time that i did, it's a gift, a gift from god. a lot of people prayed for me to be in this position. i don't want to let those people down, i want to do a good job, not just be the first black spker, butspeaker. to me being a great speaker is to make sure we are efficient, we get things done in a timely fashion and we keith that stability the house of delegates has always been known for, while also having a very heated discussion about how we need to go forward, the ideas we have in thunhost: some quick math. when we set up this interview

looking at the 40-year history of the house in virginia, half the speakers were slave owners is that important to note that? speaker scott: wow, i didn't know that. it's amazing and important to know that. it lets you know how far we have come not only as a commonwealth, but as a country. it's important that we always reflect on that history, if we don't, we are doomed to repeat it. it's important that we highlight that and understand that the ideas that these men had, even though they were flawed themselves, the ideas last forever. they are internal. ideas around life, liberty and the pursuit of happyness. these ideas were internal. . they are gifts from god, they came through men and enter that even though these men were imperfect, these ideas last forever and we have an obligation opportunity to continue that prosperity and our prosperity out to posterity,

that makes sense. host: two of the last three speakers of the house of delegates were not raised in virginia -- the first woman, the first black speaker. not being raised in virginia, what does that say about the zhcommonwealth[÷? speaker scott: they are open-minded. folks then come -- can come to the commonwealth and make a life for themselves and have an impact. ift help move all our wealth in, and moving forward, then you get the opportunity to lead. about virginians in general and a lot about what we need to do, how welcoming k-state we are. a lot of folks come to virginia that are transientfolks from the military like myself, and others who come here for our great educational system and state or they are coming for great job and stay. very welcoming and we need to keep it that way. it's threason virginia was the number one state to do business in a couple of times in a row a few years ago, because we are so welcome and inclusive compared to some of the other states.

host: let's go back to january 10, 2024 a bit more of your spee speaker scott: i got to honor her today. she was orphaned as a child. she raised six children. [voice breaks] by herself. i used to tell her, don't worry, god is my father and he will take care of us. so, i know i am a little soft right now, but i am really tough. [laughter] speaker scott: [laughs] and i got got that toughness from her. i was struggling. some of y'all know my story. i had come out of jail. real talk. she■çdidn't see anything that the world sees. she looked at me and saw her aspiration, her husband, her friend. her confidant. thank you.

thank you. when i was at my lowest [tearfully] you looked at me and you saw me exactly where i am standing right now. thank you. [applause] host: speaker scott. you were talking about helen and mellanda, and the washington post clued u.s.c., or wrote about you saying, "he never realized how much his mother struggledas an ult, he saw a social security document that suggested she never earned more than $13,000 a year." d my mom helen, and a lot of other women have always nurtured me and pushed me. it was amazing to me tso like m, black and white, we don't have all the resources they need, me. i don't know how she did it, i really don't.

i look back. i do pretty well now, and sometimes things can still get a little dicey.but she did what so raising six kids. i am grateful for that. and my wife, you know, she saw something in me that a lot of folks will be wouldn't see after experiencing what i have, the adversity that i have. she saw me as i was and said, you know what, maybe one day he would be somebody. she fell in love with the aspirational don, not the don she saw at that moment. host: il houston? speaker scott: yes. part of my childhood. a lot of it in jasper, texas, too. that is where my mother and father are from and i spent a lot of time growing up there. i was a little bit too country for the city another bit too urban for the country. i tell people a lot of the time, i was already a■n multilingual, because i could speak country and city at the same time. [laughs]. and in tech says that is a very

valuable. growing up in houston -- -- and in texas that is very valuable. growing up in houston inspired much before i am today. i have a brother that is two years younger than i and we had some older brothers and sisters -- there was a larger gap, probably eight years older than. my mom had to work a couple of jobs. in the mornings she would drop us off. we would be waiting at the public library for them to open door. stayed in the library until close, it would be 7:00, and we would be there when they locked up in a little while after she would come and pick ourselves. at that time we had a lifelong love of reading and learning. she probably knew what she was doing, but it was also a safe place to be. it's no mistake that i love to read even to this day. she instilled that love in me. my mother never had a college degree, but she loved reading she instilled that love of reading and all of us. host: what kind of books did you gravitate to?

speaker scott: when i was young i loved all the detectives. ppha longstocking. the hardy boys. nancy drew. any of those detective, mr. brooks. that as i got started reading fiction. he loved great storytelling. as i got a little older, i started to get more iosnto nonfiction, history and biographies. i am reading some stuff now. i am always reading something just to make sure i stay abreast. you have to constantly be challenging your mind and learning new things and reading about -- i am reading about a now, lyndon b. johnson. they think politics are rough now? it's nothing compared to how it was back then. [laughter] those guys were tough. host: i was snooping on your desk and i saw "muster of the senate." what do you think of tñt?speakee live in a different time. those people, maybe i am naive,

that they seemed more manipub@la than than they are now. and lyndon baines johnson was the best at it at the time. i read the book and i am, like, wow, i didn't know he was doing some of the things he was doing. he probably wouldn't be accepted now. metoo would have ate him up before he ever got out of texas. but at the end of the day he ended up being successful and got away with it. he had a lot of things that were overtly racist, but he was still beloved by a lot of folks in the black community. even to this day, i tell him some of my friends, as much they loved, he was the greatest president for his time. even though my idol is barack obama. but linda -- lyndon b. johnson passed the civil-rights legislation that put me where i am today. i was born in 1965. talk about this nifty eighth speaker of the house, i am 58 years old.

1965 that the voting rights act was passed, the year that6o the selma, alabama march across the bridge, pettis bridge, happened rates act being passed. in my mind, that is when america became what we view as, and multicultural, multiethnic country that began to become what it was supposed to be. . we have only been doing this american experiment the way i think it was intended to be 58 years since voting rates. and we are still fighting to ement and progress with the voting rates act. host: another book on your desk, "basic brown." speaker scott: the story of willie brown. i have been nibbling and reading to him as well. he was a character. very charismatic, dashing but also very strategic. very brilliant, very intelligent. that is one of the things i want to be as a speaker.

i not only want to be the first black speaker, i want to continue to be strategic in which the goals and objectives of not only my family, but our commonwealth. i want every child to have the same opportunity my children and my family have. and i want the legislature to really operate in an efficient and effective way. and he did it for a long time. so i am looking forward to continuing to learn more about mr. brown. host: author denise gicham, " politics for people who hate politics." speaker scott: the book was a gift from a fellow republican delegateata. it's a pretty good book. the lady who wrote the book actually ran as a republican in california. then she figured out it wasn't for her so she wrote this book about, you know, how do you still be yourself and you still want to be engaged about, not have to be as nasty, as partisan, as argumentative as

politics have become now? as toxic as politics are now. it's a good book to remind us there are people on the other side of the aisle of gootogethe. and we don't have to always be at each other's throats. that is kind of why i keep that book. i didn't even know you were going to do the interview in, this room without we would do it at the capitol, but i keep the books when i have those moments. i touch each one and i am always listening to other books, because i am always trying to learn and become better and understand how different people think. i like to challenge myself. i like to talk to republicans and democrats. i think you have to talk to different people or otherwise you will just get confirmation bias, only you, you don't learn anything knew. -- anything new. host: hostthabraham lincoln statue. speaker scott: he is my third favorite president behind barack

obama anlb he made some courageous -- i think people try to revise, times that we, live in now some of the things he said. he had to say something back then that were striche ball. he said things like, if we would be slaves in the state union, i woul slave. if we wouldn't have slaves and keep the uniwe would be free. he said things to keep the country movingorward. but i think he had other motives and those motives were aays for emancipation. so i have a lot of respect for him and obviously, dr. king is a hero, a giant. i am always reminded and humbled that a lot of people that talk about dr. king today, they like to use his words in his speeches, but they don't like to use his actions. who gaveof action, not just

flory speeches, he actually put his body on the line which led to his assassination. he was in memphis getting ready to go and march with striking workers. he put his body on the line, which is w i him. i hear so many people today that try to just use a clip of the speech, but they don't share anything in common with his philosophy towards dealing with human beings and giving every person the opportunity to move forward in this country andoica. i think that is what he stood for. host:. host: i want to quote you from january 10, 2024. "i remember my mother in the courtroom. i can hear the little yelp that she made when a judge that "10 years i still hear that sometimes." what are you talking about? speaker scott: i am sitting in the courtroom and standing up

now at the defendant's table and the judges about to pronounce my sentence, and i am hopeful that i might get some, a little bit more mercy? i had never been in trouble before, i had served my country and i was hoping that i would get a little bit more grace and may be the judge might have given me a little time. he could've given me more time than he did. i remember my mother when he said "10 years." she could not believe it. that yelp pain always stays with me. it is always motivating and always lets me know how fragile our freedom is and how powerless it is and y sometimes, it could literally be the end of your life as you know it. host: host: how did you end up'? speaker scott: well, i was in my third year of law school, my final semester at lsu lawand a o

me to ask me to go pick up some proceeds, drug money. i kt think i was selling drugs, and at the time, even though i was in law school, it didn't click that i could be put into a cocaine conspiracy -- which i never sold any. but i want down to alabama to meet someone who gave me, 20 somethingdollars in a bag of drug money. so i was sitting in the ihop or denny's restaurant and they seea lot of police out there. [laughs] i didn't know they were there for me. they came in and arrested me and the 90, i am in a crack cocaine conspiracy with two people i didn't know. one of them i knew a little bit and had met before. th all. they both were testifying against me and he took -- they tookso i pled nolo contcontest,p

getting 10 years. one night, one bad day and one bad decision. i tell people he could have been worse. it could have been somebody with a gun. i could have been meeting somebody i didn't know who would have shot me. everything works out for good at the end of the day is why my faith is so strong, because i don't even know if i would be here but for that experience. sometimes god tells you know, or not yet -- god tells you "no" or "not yet." host: seven years in prison. you talk about two things, being anointed as you were going in, and pain and purpose. speaker scott: yeah. my mother had a friend named b. simon.

when this case was going on, i was fighting it. she is deceased now, but my mother called her over to her house, she had worked with her at a high school, my mother had been an administrative assistant at the school -- and b came over, and, ms. simon came over and prayed over me and she put th -- over my head and prayed over me. i am not lying, everybody was in tears. she basically told me look, you will be ok. you may have to go through some stuff, but you keep your faith in god, stay grounded, you will be available to endure this and you will be ok. and i believe that. so even though i was disappointed in what the judge said that day, sentenced, i went to the back to be fingerprinted. the judge told me, i will let you go home and turn yourself in -- which is amazing to me.

host: he had finished law school too haven't you? speaker scott: prior to that, i had already graduated. i went to the back and that the people, could i kneeled down pray? i did and i said what ms. simon told me, not your will, but your will be done --" not my will, but your will be done." i tried to stay in that moment the entire time when i was in prison. i call it that nevertheless principal. not my will, but your will be done. i didn't understand what my purpose would be but i knew that out of this pain would come purpose. i don't try appoint myself like a christlike figure, by no means, but in my mind i thought the punishment was harsher than what i thought i deserved. think there is some merit in what i perceive as undeserved

suffering. and i think there is some opportunity to move forward and grow when you feel this is not right and you could have done better and that you know you are also responsible for putting yourself in this positi. so i said, i am going to turn this pain into the purpose i need it to be to be able to help other people, working really hard. ta prison -- i had never studieda bar in 2014 and i passed it the first time. nothing but god. i was working full-time and i was studying basically online for the bar on the laptop, was on the plane most of the time working, so -- new [sighs] i know it was a miracle for me.

i don't know about other folks, but it was a miracle for me. host: how do you get to virginia from prison? speaker scott: when i got out, i went to wilmington, delaware. i had an uncle, his name was warren. he was a pharmaceutical executive, special me, when you- my father had passed when i was in prison. didn't get to go to his funeral was always gnawing on me. i am named after my father. people tell me to use don scott, jr., because i am junior. but i only wanted to use don scott because i want his name. even though he didn't raise me, later on in life, we became close. and i want his name. [voice i want him to know that i loved him even though he was not there. i understand relationships are hard. i understa.

really see that name,, because he was a brilliant man, he just was not there when i was growing up. but as i got older, when i went to jail, his heart was broken. he came toly] he had lung cancer. my father always had a big afro. and when he came to see union president, all his hair was gone from the chemo. [sighs] when he died -- he had been in the air force. but he was an engineer and made a lot of money. when he died he had one life insurance policy. he left it to me. he had three other kids. . he didn't name anybody else on it, he left it to me. and with that mone i was able to buy my first house.

i had a bit of seed money. so i want to work. i didn't have a lot, but i had, maybe $15,000 to $20,000. . but i used that money to buy my first house in wilmington, delaware. so it is amazing that even though he was not there to begin with, he was there at the end. he was there on the other side when i needed him. i am grateful for that. i try not to put don scott, jr. on my stuff -- sometimes they do it and i tell them not to -- because i am always thoughtful cause i want don scott's name on this stuff and want everybody to know that i am part of that. that's how i got to delaware. let me get back to how i got to virginia. [laughs] because you messed me all up. i am tough, all■;■0v right? now you got me crying. it's your fault. [laughs] i was working for this company doing workforce development. my first job was welding.

i came out of prison and there is a guy named bob, in wilmington, delaware -- i hope he is watching there. he owned a steal fabrication company. i am thinking my uncle will give me a posh job since i have two degrees. he gave me a job doing welding at children's hospitals. and he gave me this job. and i am grateful. and i am doing well, i am doing sheet work, metalwork, all this stuff. air. i was shaking like an old maytag on the spin cycle up there. it came time for them to say hey, i got another job opportunity. the first time i got another opportunity that was on the ground i was, like, i can't take that job, because it was like a $25 two per hour what i was making up there versus being on the ground. t and

came to work for a workforce development company. i was commuting from wilmington to philadelphia. i would take that call. i met my wife teaching dentistry at the diversity of pennsylvania her mother and my ot had went to college together. so it was like a blind date. don't tell my wife, she hates this story -- but i was still on house arrest when i met her. i go scrabble -- i got permission to go over to my aunt's house, we played scrabble and she beat me. i let her be. she was pretty and i didn't want to beat her. i wanted to see her again -- don't tell her that -- so we started dating. she was smart, pretty, teaching at an ivy league school. and she still chose me.

me. we met and a couple of years, we were married. i ended up -- a i proposed to her, i got a opportunity to bid on some work in northern virginia. i go to northern virginia, for my company, and i am just thinking i will tell them what we do and i will go back to philadelphia. because i am engaged to get married. they, hey, if y'all get this contract, you got to move to virginia. so i called my fiance and i said i've got this job opportunity, we have to move to virginia, are you ok? she said, yeah. she moved to my house from her condo and i went to virginia until we got married, we were separated for three or four months and we got married in november. the reason i came to virginia was begot that contract. i started as a case manager in this company, deputy project

i came to norfolk to came standing up. and that is how i got to virginia. did you start practicing law? speaker scott: i was on the road with the company i was working for, got promote v president and i was in charge of all the work across the country. so i was on a plane three nights a week. by that time, my wife and i had a daughter,■% peyton. my wife said you got to come home and help take care of her. the only other skill i have is this old, dusty law degree i have on the wall so i decided then i would start studying for the bar. so i started studying for the of 2014. i got my barbary books in online and i took the bar in july of 2014, i passed it. i remember exactly where i was when i found out i passed, greensboro, north carolina at a

conference. i got a call from another friend that i had met when we were taking the bar. he calls me and says, hey, you i said, no way, because i am thinking i am about to take it two or three times. "you pass the room and i see my name and i almost pass out. it's like hitting a golf ball 't expect to hit it tothe fitness committee exam and go before the board here in richmond, tell them, they look at your credit score, everything. your life. the call your old friends, professors, everything. than the fitness committee said, we recommend you get a license. everybody told me i wouldn't get it the first time. they said yes. that is how i knew it was god. i shocked. then i had to go before the board of bar examiners another group. would to charlottesville to see them in 2015, june of 2015. so i took the bar in 2014,

passed in october of■t 2014. most people immediately get sworn in. not me, because of the circumstances of the old case. i had to go through a lot more steps. i did. june of 2015i go in front of the board of bar examiners and i will never forget, a great legislator. she was the chair. anita. i remember these names because you remember these people that were nice for no reason. thate for no reason. she gave me an opportunity. i could tell she was strict, hard-core. she said, "i'm going to give you a chance." she was the person that moved the rest of the board to vote to allow me to practice. that was in 2015. had i not gotten approved in june of 2015, i would've had to take the bar again -- because you have to be sworn in within a year after you take it,

so i would've had to take it again. i got sworn in june. i had a friend that was a supreme court bernard goodwin. he swore me in. in chesapeake circuit court house. with my wife and my neighbors, about three or four people there. he swore me in. it was amazing -- what is amazing is, he is the same rson who became the chief justice and he swore me in on january . i believe in god. no doubt about it. if you don't believe -- -- i am sitting there looking at him, like, this is crazy. i can't believe it. the same person that swore me in in 2015, swore me in on january 10 of this year. ■)exact same person. crazy. host: what kind of logic you practice? speaker scott: i didn't turn down anything but my caller when i started. [laughs] whater kind of work that could come to me, i would do it.

i was doing real estate, anything i could do. i started doing well and started getting some high-profile criminal cases. i was doing personal injury stuff. that is how i started out. i was working hard and then eventually, i ended up getting some very, very large cases. i had a good friend named jeffrey bright that i would call and say, hey, what do you think about this case? you had -- he had a big pi firm. say, how the heck did you get this case? i said, people call me, i don't. one time i thought i had a big case, i was about to settle the case. he said, hold on before you settle it, let me talk to the client. . let me come by your office and look at your records. he came by with another partner and they met with my client. we looked at the case, and the being made, he said,

you take that offer it. it was the biggest offer i had at the time he said. , if malpractice, we will get five times that for the client. we did. at that point psaki was like, look, you are good. you have to join this forum. i said the only time i will join is as partner. he said ok, you will be partner. law firm, one of the best, largest personal injury law firms in the commonwealth. we have several offices across the state including here in richmond. host: what do you bring, what talents do you bring to being a trial attorney? speaker scott: to me, one of the best things about beintr attorney, the number one talent is you have to be able to connect with people. i have been through so many different environments between military, jail, growing up the way i did, now having a little bit of success. i think the number one thing is

empathy to be able to list stoo tell that story in a way and match it with the law. my mother told me recently, and i understand what she is saying,, she said, you were born to do this. she said, god would have been offended you had you not been exactly where you are right now doing everything you are doing right now. this is a gift you have. so i look at the number one cstalent you bring is the talent that you have been given, and i think you have a duty to use it to help folks. and i think some of the stories that ieale who have, been hurt r help people who have been in the system or help people who need to get the best result they possibly can out of the system, i can empathize with that. that's what i bring to the table. host: speaker scott, one of the cases you worked onquite a bit . this is your fellow delegate, louise lucas.

speaker scott: senator. host: senator louise lucas. what was that about? speaker scott: it was politically motivated, in my belief. there were some confederate memorials in portsmouth. there was a community outcry to bring them down -- it was around the time of george floyd and people wanted to remove these vestiges of jim crow out of th community, especially in the majority black city like portsmouth. we both represented portsmouth, i am the delicate entry she is the senator. she went out to a demonstration where they were protesting the monument sti being up. there at 2:00 p.m. and said they need to come down. she left and went back to work. well, eight or nine hours later, some people started knocking them down. months later, police bring charges. a magistrate charges her with destruction of property and some

other feloniesseveral felony offenses, all politically motivated. she had just become president pro tem of the senate, first black president pro tem of the senate, she had ascended to the lofty role and she was an easy target. we ended up defending her successfully and all the charges were dssshe is even feistier no! [laughs] she is a colleague of mine and i am proud tca her as a friend. host: we are sitting a couple of blocks from the confederate white house when it was here in richmond. we know about the robert e. lee statute on monument avenue down here. what is your take? speaker scott: the air is st inw we have a different mindset in the commonwealth of virginia. most of those things are gone. we still have a couple of things around here we need to clean up. because total jackson is in the capitol square. we can do better than that.

the commonwealth ibetter than that. we know the majority of those monuments weren't for that right after that season law to honor the folks that had died in fighting, as some folks would argue, they were put up in the 50's to send a jim crow message, a chilling effect to african-americans who were saying, "we want our equality and our civil-rights." they were put up to make sure they send a message to know your place. . we don't have that anymore. nobody knows their place anymore. everybody's places to be equal. that is america and that is ite house remain? host: speaker scott: it can remain. peoples need to see it and they need to understand whatever history is and how easily we can be taken back. we have to understand there are people who still hold that mindset and we need to make sure those people never touch -- never have any opportunity to have a new leadership in the country. we need to move forward.

host: what made you decide in 2019 to run for delegate? speaker scott: i was perturbed. i was in the courthouses across my region a lot and i was seeing things that were wrong happening. i was serving in the community, i have served as chair of the community development in my city and i thought we needed to have a different voice, we needed to make changes. i ran on criminal justice to reform. we could have a committee that understands that we shouldn't be shocked when somebody like me comes out of prison and does well, it should be the norm. we should be shocked when somebody has gone for a while and has had this opportunity to get this access to sos and they don't come back and they are not successful in the community. that is when we should be shocked. i think we have p punish criminals or people who have criminal activity. i am not soft on crime.

i have been in jail. we have the need for them. we have some social paths that walk amongst us. that is ok. we take care of those people. but we also have some people that have made mistakes, especially some drug offenses. we tried the war on drugs. iran and i thought we could do better. . i have been able, since i have been here, to change some laws that helped close down four prisons in the last year. republican governor just shut down four prisons because he doesn't have any bodies. no people there. and guess what, virginias recidivism rate is still one of the lowest in the country. our crime rate is one of the lowest in the country. !9s our system and make sure we keep the public safe, but also make sure we keep people pa taxpayer and contribute to the society. host: i want to quote former virginia governor who has a roln

your life in some way, for a very special moment, he said, for every that makes a mistake. they can look at don scott and say, i will never give up, i can still be what i want to be in america. what is governoron relationship or role in your life? speaker scott: got a lot of respect. he was the person that restored my right. in virginia you have to get your civil-rights restored to vote, to participate on the jury, to do a lot of civil actions in the community to make you whole agn. mcdonnell, to his credit and his team, restored my rites. with that restio to take the ba. i could not take the bar without that. i was able to take the bar. everything i have done since props. because you didn't have to do that with the way the law is set up.

before him -- was a a republican was a trail-blazer in criminal justice reform. imagine that! that is blasphemy. but ithe believes. he is a man of faith. he believes in what he says and he actually put into action what he says his faith and his beliefs are. he restored my rights and a lot of others andmcauliffe, the demr behind him, to do a lot of restorations. ralph northam that came behind him, to do a record number of restorations. because he made it cool. the republican ended up being the one to make it cool to restore the rites of folks who d paid debts to society and be fully embraced by their committees. he deserves all the credit. , to mcdald's deserves all the -- governor mcdonnell deserves all the credit for setting virginia back on course.

unfortunately governor youngkin tction. i am hopeful he will follow governor mcdonnell's example and get us back on course with the restoration of rights. host: host: you have a basketball on your shelf signed by the governor. speaker scott: i forgot to move that! i didn't know y'all were coming here. n. i think we can have some conversations that don't include stuff like critical race like teacher tipline's anymore. all those flashy day one things he did. now we can have nice, sobering conversations together about how we move the commonwealth forward. i really do believein he is a businessman at heart, i think he is a pragmatist and he wants to get some things done. and i think he related he won an election and he had an opportunity to put his full agenda forward. now we had another election and there is a new agenda.

so reset and move in the right direction, and i think he is doing that. we talk often. we will probably talk this week and■) about how we get things de in the commonwealth. i think we have an opportunity to gngs done and i is going to do that. host: quote/unquote, virginia has historically back and forth from control of one country of -- one party in oth. i think what that reflected the fact that we are state that is very comfortable working together, across party lines, in order to get things done." that was after democrats retook the legislature. speaker scott: i think he read the tea leaves very well. people expect us to work together. we are a 21-19 senate, democrats controlled both houses. the governor controls governor's mansion. people expect us to be grown-ups. not d.c., teari each other

apart. we need to be grown-ups to move things forward and we can do that. there are some nonnegotiable's on both sides. that is ok. we can still meet in the middle about things we can do together and i think we will do that. host: what is the role of the speaker here in virginia? speaker scott: man, i didn't realize you had so much power. i was shocked! literally. i was, like, what?! number one, i appoint every single member, of the house of delegates, every single person to a committee. i appoint every single chair. ublic safety in the capitol. the capitol police come to not only check on me to mature i am safe, but anything that happens around the capitol, they let me know. i was, like, oh my god, that is a lot of responsibility. you have to make sure every single member gets what they need not just the democrats, you have to take care of the republicans. i am responsible that if something happens to a republican, i need to know so i

can make sure they are■í safe. you are not the speaker -- they don't call you the speaker of the democrats or the speaker of the republicans, they call you the speaker of the house andt. and i have a responsibility to have an open, and sometimes contentious dialogue. . you have to create an environment where people feel comfortable saying their views. every single person got elected by their communities to coming due that. we fight hard and then we go out and get dinner. it's ok. ■&■wi think as a trial lawyer, m prepared to do that, i am always fighting people in court and then we go out and get a beer afterw.host: speaking of which,u took on the democratic leader in the house of delegates pretty early on in your time in the house. why did you do that? speaker scott: well, i think -- d not do it alone. we -- i guess i was in another conspiracy -- we, myka caucus,

decided we would call for a vote so we could make a change. and because we had had a loss recently that we felt like we should have won, we were a 55-45 majority for the first time in 20 years and there were a lot of folks disappointed that we lost the majority so easily a sso the the leadership role and i did, and i'u

of the house and republican leader? speaker scott: funny, he was sitting right in my officeay i t what we would do. we have a very good relationship. i asked him, have you had a relationship with any former speaker? ? he was, like, no. we are both from east texas, jasper, and newton, texas is where he was born. he wants to law school. even though he went to uva undergrad. we are both very blunt. he is a trial lawyer, a dogged and rugged trial lawyer. so he knows the score. we both are grown-ups. we both understand that he is trying to whack my head, and i am trying to whack his head. in politics, we are both trying to get things done. when you have someone like that -- we have very frank and honest conversations, more so than any other politician here, probably

even on my own side, i can be very blunt with him and he can be very blunt with me and we can laugh about it and go in our separate corners and fight. reminds me of the old swolf in e cartoons. you clock out and go get a barbecue lunch together or barbecue dinner at his favorite texas barbecue place in richmond. host: virginia is ofte described as several states within one -- tech, tobacco, tidewater, et cetera. how do you be the speaker for all of that? speaker scott: it's so funny you say that, i literally think you have an obligation to be speake. . so you have to get out of your comfort zone. right after i was elected i made a pact with a republican senator named travis hackworth. i said, i want to come to the southwest. i had been before, my wife and i, driving through bristol.

host: very rural area. speaker scott: very poor area. which is amazing. it always amazes me■heverybody t corporations, and the republican-democrat brand is that democrats are for the little guy and republicans are for corporations. but that area is all republican. but they are extremely poor. they are much than my community in portsmouth. i saw people that didn't have access to health care. that would get checkups once a year at an annualrocery store volunteer mobile unit, and even if they had insurance, there are health care deserts out there. so the estimate cannot come out and see the southwest? we went to rich lands. i went to church as well and lebanon, all the little areas -- i went to tazewell and lebanon, all the little areas. with senator hackw me and

my wife. we got to see what folks in that community care about. i met with a roomful of republicans and got a standing ovation not because i was telling them what they wanted to hear, i was telling them of the values that we had in common, which is making we give every kid a chance to get an education like i had -- in a public school even. giving a kid a chance to go env. not having to worry about getting shot up and have parents come to identify bodies with dna samples. that is normal stuff. talking to these families and making sure we give every person who works hard every day, they ought to have a paycheck that reects their dignity and they ought to be able to take care of their families and put food on their table. it's not extreme to say that if i work eight hours a day and i work hard, i should be able to take care of my family. that is not an extreme position so when they saw that i didn't have horns and it was ok, they said, we've got a lot in common

with these people. i think democrats miss an opportunity to go out and talk to people. they got to talk to everybody. even if they think they may not be well received. because i don't think everyday people are as polarized as we think. i think the politicians are, but everyday people that interact everyday at the grocery store and in charge and schools, they aren't as full arrived as when we get back to our tribes in politics. we have an opportunity and everybody an opportunity, especially democrats, to talk to people and what they would call "red areas." even if they didn't vote for you. host: could you opine a bit about the interaction between people and theirof government -, local -- the interaction between those three and how you see the state affecting people's lives? speaker scott: i think what i do

at the state level, i am trying to listen to my community, where i am. if everybody is working out -- i think we have turned self-interest into a bad word. every community is self-interested. we are a commonwealth when all our self interests come together. i know i have to do a bit of force outs wide -- i have to do a bit for central virginia so i can get to the southwest of central v.a.. +nlocal, state, federal governmt and agencies -- the professionals, i know we call them bureaucrats, but i call them professionals, they hold a wealth of knowledge about how systems work. how to improve them. they have been doing this a long, long time and many of them have goodwill. they all have good intent about how to get people's lives better. so i think the more that we listen to the locals,ry to ith our partners at federal to get them the

resources they need and to make laws and regulations that make our lives easier, than at the state level, we have an easier job. is to listen to our constituents. if we listen to constituents, we deliver. we really are a purple state. we are willing to g commonwealte are willing to give people an opportunity to present an idea, and we are willing to change our minds and move in a different direction. i think that has kept us so balanced and so well-off vis-a-vis other states, we haven't had these big drop-offs like other states have. we have been pretty even keeled through democratic and republican governors, through democrat-controlled legislators, and republican-controlled legislators. 51-49 is really close. can't do any web stuff the good you can't use any votes and then you can't overcome the governor's veto. we have to agree, everybody together. our government in virginia work. i wish the u.s. government would

work. host: but virginia on the national level has really trended blue in the last couple of cycles. speaker scott: at the presidential level. host: why do you think that is? speaker scott: because it is bigger. part of it is we have had some amazing candidates in the past. i think barack obama was the first want to tilt everything back. he was iconic, historic figure. and he won virginia. host: twice. speaker scott: both times were pretty tight, not blowouts. on virginia. and we know who was on the other side of hillary,. the best candidate, but we stuck with him. [laughs] and then biden won. big. i think he won by 10 points or close to it. and win virginia again. because he is talking about kitchen-table issues. because he actually believes in democracy. democracy is a good thing. he is just not saying "we the

people," he is not just saying "we hold these truths to be self evident that all people are created equal." he means it. he's not saying, we need to suspend us constitution for a littlehile and i will be dictator for a day. immigration is hard, but we have to face it, we have some issues that are hard, but we can overcome them. that is at we will do. host: for those of us who have lived in virginia for a while, reproductive choice, abortion, seems to be a recurring issue in the state. when we started this last election cycle, we knew -- we didn't tell people what to do. people told us what to do and we listened. women and men said, limits of productive health and choice and the productive freedom and privacy to ma their own bodies

is important. it's not extreme to say, i am a woman, iade this choice, not some politician in richmond or washington. that is not extreme. that is normal that people make decisionsó their own bodies, what is extreme is richmond or washington politicians trying to tell them -- which are mostly men -- trying to tell woman what to do with her body. i think we listened to people and we put forth ideas that we have said would protect that in virginia. we wouldn't go backwards look almost every other state in the south has done. i think women and men resonated to that message, it was the nuing factor for a lot of voters. that is why we were able to win. that was a big deal for this last election. that it will continue to be a big deal until we are able to either overturn and reinstate roe at the federal level, or codify it here ivirginia. host: as a successful attorney, or in a law firm, speaker of the

house here in virginia, do you e fair share in taxes. speaker scott: me personally? i think we can pay a little bit more. my wife and she is a dentist. but nobody wants to pay taxes, but i think sometimes to make the system fairer, we could pay more and i think there are some others who could pay more. we need to take a comprehensive look at our tax structure. there are people making a lot ave -- our top tax bracket -- a person tax bracket as a person making $5 billion. that does not seem very fair and i wish we can make take a look at it but it would require more than the 51 votes we have. we would have to have a governor that will partner with us and right now we don't have that. you make as speaker of the house?

speaker scott: i think i am making $30,000? it's terrible. i was making $70,000 as a delegate. i think it's a double good maybe it is 34,000 dollars? we could do better. me virginia. maybe somebody will introduce one and make it effective 10 years from now and we can vote on it. maybe we can do it to make it in line with other areas. host: speaker scott, for good or bad, you can't read an interview with you or article about you without seeing the words "alligator skin cowboy boots, fitted designer suits. porsche." [laughter] "4s." [laughter] what are these things? speaker when you grow up poor, there are some things that you say, if i ever get

something, these are the things i will have. i went to texas a&m university and i would these guys with these great cowboy boots on. i lovehem. if you go to an them right i don't know. i like my suits. i like the boots. i like my shirts to look straight. life is short. i get back. my wife and i contribute. i like a nice car. i derived -- i drove a honda civic and then i graduated.

i have been lucky. i have been blessed. i am grateful. i don't know what is next. we will take a chance and see what happens. we will see. quick thinking for joining us on c-span. >> thank you. >> all q&a programs are available on our c-span now app. >> wednesday on q&a, patty davis discusses her book "dear mom and

dad," memoir her parents, ronald and nancy reagan. watch it on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> coming up tonight on c-span, the supreme court heard oral argument in a consolidated cas'l for expanded use for the abortion pill mess up her stone. eholders reprenting alliance for hippocratic medicine spoke to the press after the supreme court heard or in a case regarding access to the abortion pill, mifepristone. later, pete buttigieg, president biden, and national transportation safety board chair jennifer homendy, spoke about the collapse of the bridge in baltimore after being rammed by a container ship. that and more tonight