RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Don Scott is the 58th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, but he is nothing like his predecessors.
In honor of Black History Month, 8News spoke to Don Scott, the 58th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, who is breaking barriers at the State Capitol.
“Every day I walk in this room literally, I am in awe,” Scott told 8News during an interview earlier this week in the House Chamber.
Scott is currently serving as the first Black Speaker in Virginia’s history.
“I see the ghosts in this room for the people who came in this room before me, who did not get the opportunity to sit in these seats,” Scott said. “They were the servants. They were the folks who used their hands to build this place.”
Scott grew up in Houston and was raised by a single mother. Shortly after he graduated college, he joined the Navy.
“I look at this as a continuation of that service to make sure that we protect this democracy,” Scott said about serving as Speaker. “To make sure that we give those folks who are making those sacrifices, sometimes with their very lives, give them something to come home to and something to be proud of.”