David Scott

Georgia's newest member of Congress barely had time to take the oath of office before getting his first taste of governing.

Everton Blair was sworn in a few days ago to complete the term of the late U.S. Rep. David Scott, then he hurried back to the House floor for a vote to keep the government funded through the rest of the year.

Blair is going to hold the 13th district seat only through early January, but his arrival further narrows the Republican majority and gives him chances for meaningful votes on consequential issues over the next few months.

Blair is a former Gwinnett County School Board chairman, a one-time math teacher, and the son of Jamaican immigrants.

And we need to then deliver and actually do the things that we say that we're going to do.

I wanted to ask you, you know, we're talking a lot about the things you hope to do in Washington as far as votes or advocating for certain things that you think Congress should be doing to help out voters.

But what's your vision for how you're going to do the job back home in your district? We know, you know, David Scott towards these final years wasn't very active in the district, didn't have a lot of public events.

How are you, A, staffing back up, and B, what are your thoughts about how you're going to handle the job?

He is representing generational change, and we've seen a lot of those kinds of races on other committees over the last few years.

You'll recall that the late David Scott was in the running to or was expected to be the next chair of the Agriculture Committee, and then Angie Craig, a younger member from Minnesota, toppled him.

We've been seeing more and more cases where seniority, which has historically been very important, if not the most important part of committee leadership, taking a back seat.

Now, I think Casten's bid is a long shot, to be frank, for a number of reasons.

I point, for example, to the victory, the recent victory, which has got very little press coverage, of Everton Blair in Georgia in a congressional primary.

Now, Everton Blair was up against a nepo baby, in a sense, the daughter of the longtime congressman For this district, David Scott, David Scott passed away as, you know, it's becoming an increasing tradition in the Democratic Party for people to die in office and then attempt to pass the position on to their children.

That includes, by the way, some people that I like, Raul Castillo.

Gojavo is a good guy.

His daughter wound up taking his position.

But Everton Blair, the daughter was, David Scott's daughter was rather neutral in her declaration of political principles.

Everton Blair was not.

Although the little press publicity that he's gotten has concentrated on the fact that he is, I believe, the first gay party candidate in the Deep South.

One last bit of good news before we get to some other sorts of information.

We now have the ability to celebrate the election of Dr. Everton Blair Jr., who was elected to fill the vacancy that was created by the death of Representative David Scott out of Georgia.

And Representative Blair is going to be the second youngest member of the House of Representatives.

And he is also the first openly gay man to represent the South.

The GOP's majority in the House shrunk two days in a row as two Democratic House members were sworn in to fill seats vacated by one Democrat who died in office and another who resigned.

Representative Everton Blair, Democrat from Georgia, was sworn in on Tuesday after he won a special election to replace the late Representative David Scott, Democrat from Georgia, who died earlier this year.

And Representative Ayesha Wahab, Democrat from California, was sworn in Wednesday following her special election win to replace former Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat from California, who stepped down in April amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Their additions narrow the Republican

And so in every Southern state, there's more black folks running for Congress than the folks that they're trying to replace.

So the unforeseen impact of the redistricting was that before, you had folks who would get in the seat and they basically die in that seat like David Scott did.

Well, now, you know, they've kind of changed the lines around.

So now you've made it possible for other African-Americans to aspire for those seats.

Nationally, he is only the third openly gay Black person elected to Congress.

Blair is expected to be sworn in when the House returns in September and will complete the late Congressman David Scott's term through January.

And finally, in Delaware, from the Washington Blade, the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission has fined Hideout Arcade Bar and Grill $15,000 for discriminating against transgender woman Katie Sorber.

Sorber said employees told her in 2023 she could only use the men's restroom because of the gender marker on her ID.