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Interviewer (3:02)

Virginia is striking back immediately after the United States Supreme Court ruling where a 6 to 3 decision, the right wing Supreme Court justices saying that Texas can do the gerrymander to try to create more Republican seats in Texas. They want to create five Republican congressional seats there before the midterms. I do think that that may backfire on Texas, but you have Virginia resp responding right away. The Senate president pro temporary Luis Lucas, she says I've got something in store for Texas. What does she have in store for Texas? She says I will give a follow back to every person who I see tweet 10 to 1 tonight. By the way, back on November 2, 2025, she said 10 to 1. Remember when Republicans drew Virginia's congressional map so black people were packed into one district and said we should be grateful they gave our this district. Now they can have one district and see how much they love it. Not mincing words there. And then we had the Virginia House speaker, speaker of the House of Delegates there, Don Scott last night talking about how, you know, it's possible you do a ten to one map right there for the congressional delegation. The current delegation is six Democrats, five Republicans, one. We'll see. I mean you look at Donald Trump and the MAGA approval in Virginia right now. The latest morning Console poll has Trump at negative 12% in Virginia and that number just gets lower each one we give. And just so we can show you what the Supreme Court ruled and why, I think there is this massive opening for Virginia to do a in kind gerrymander, an offset if you will, or perhaps an offset multiple given that what MAGA wants to do, North Carolina and Indiana, kind of what we saw in Prop 50 in California, trying to offset what MAGA is doing. Just take a look right here. This is the Supreme Court direct language with an eye on the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Several states have in recent months redrawn their congressional districts in ways that are predicted to favor the state's dominant political party. So the Supreme Court acknowledges that one of those states is Texas that it's the purpose of it is to get Republicans elected. And here's what the Supreme Court says, based on our preliminary evaluation of this case, Texas satisfies the criteria for interim relief. In other words, that the legislative map there is presumed to be accurate. Why? The Supreme Court says first, the district court failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous, direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature. Heck, the legislator in Texas is like, we're going to make some racist maps. Like they literally said that. So I'm not really sure where the ambiguity is there. But the Supreme Court says if the legislature says they acted in good faith, why is there even a Supreme Court or courts in general to question them? Then it goes. Second, the district court failed to draw a dispositive or adverse inference against the people challenging the map. So the Supreme Court said anyone who challenges it, you should automatically basically view them as losing before the case even gets filed. Okay. And then they also say courts shouldn't do anything before an election and we're too close to the midterms, so why even do anything at all? So we're just going to hold off. That's the framework right there. I want to bring in Speaker Don Scott, the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, who we spoke to here before those November elections, expanded that majority in the House of Delegates since the last. You said it, you said it was going to happen. We're going to go there. But first I got to ask you, Virginia, striking back, what are you doing in the legislature right now regarding a response to this gerrymandering that we see in Texas that the Supreme Court says go for it.

Don Scott (7:04)

Well, sooner or later, you know, thank you for having me. But sooner or later you have to stand up to the bully on the block. And I think Virginia Democrats made it clear that we're not going to sit on the sidelines while Donald Trump and Republicans in Texas and North Carolina and Missouri and Indiana and now Florida launched this unprecedented mid cycle redistricting scheme to try to override the will of the people until the midterms in their favor. Their policies are so bad that they know they have to do something and we have no choice. I don't think, you know, any Democrat wants to be in a position. We are, we are against gerrymandering. We want, we're hoping that as a federal ban on gerrymandering. But we have to level the playing field. We can't pretend that they're playing in a fair manner. And while we sit aside and yell at them, we have to do something and fight back. And where I came from, if a bully punch you in the face, you can sit around and whine about it. You got up and you fought back. And I think that's what we have to do right now.

Interviewer (7:57)

So what can you tell us though, about what that looks like? When does the next, when does this happen? Like what's going on? What can you share in terms of what's the next step? I mean, look, you mentioned it's 10 ones not outside the realm of possibility. The Senate president, pro temporary, said that she keeps riding 10 to 1. So I would assume that means not outside the realm of possibility. Talk to us about that and what happens next?

Don Scott (8:24)

Well, as you know, right now Virginia's congressional delegation is six, five, six Democrats, five Republicans. And we, you know, we have an opportunity, I think, to take a look at it. The first thing that we did, you know, one, a lot of people like, well, tell us your strategy. You're an attorney. I'm not going to tell you my overall strategy, but I will tell you this. We've taken the first step, which is pass a constitutional amendment. That's what's required in Virginia to allow for mid 10 year, decade, mid decade redistricting. So we've done that and then we had an intervening election which is required to pass the same resolution again, the exact same language, which we will do on January 14th. That is the first day of session. That's how important this is. We will do that on the very first day of session and pass the resolution to allow this to become a constitutional amendment that will then go to the voters. So we have to put this before the voters and probably trying to get it done in April so that we can impact the 2026 elections. We, we don't have a choice in this matter. This is a requirement and an obligation to be able to protect our democracy from Donald Trump's rampant assault on it. We know that he doesn't care about democracy. We saw that on January 6th. And I think we have an opportunity now to make sure that we level the playing field in light of what he's doing. And I think that process will allow us to do that. And so then once we do that, the legislature will be able to draw those maps. And we need to be very clear and concise and make sure it's community based with some input to be able to get those maps drawn. And I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to get to a 101 map in light of the shellacking that we just put on the Republicans in Virginia this last cycle, Abigail Spamberger won by 15 points. We went from a 5149 majority in the House of Delegates to a 6436 majority in the House of Delegates. So I think we have a responsibility to speak up for our voters and protect Virginians from being a different disenfranchise.

Interviewer (10:17)

Look, my nephew say it's incredibly cringy whenever I try to do the 67 joke. But I like 10 1. 101 sounds, sounds really much better.

Don Scott (10:29)

It might be the new six seven.

Interviewer (10:30)

Ten one one is the next is the next six, seven. So you're moving expeditiously there. But talk about this, talk about the sentiment right now in Virginia, because when you and I talked last, there was a real affordability crisis. You have all the government workers there. You have health care premiums now are going to spike with the Affordable Care act subsidies not getting extended. There's this full fledged assault on the commonwealth. I mean, it's an outward hostility from the regime against Virginia. And we saw that in the election. Talk to us about that.

Don Scott (11:04)

Well, when Elon Musk came in with Doge and basically came in with a chainsaw disrespecting these people who have put their life, many of them are veterans that work in the federal government. So basically had an assault on veterans through the federal government with his work with coming in with a chainsaw and cutting people's jobs, not only cutting their jobs, but their livelihoods, their ability to take care of their families in a very cynical way, in a harmful way. And I think Virginia sent a message of disapproval and that is why Republicans were beat so badly. We won five districts that Donald Trump won and carried in 2024. That is, we won Trump voters back. And I think that's the story that's been missing on this. We won folks who, they know that Donald Trump lied to them. He blatantly lied to them when he told them that he would lower the price of everything, that he would lower the price of goods and services. But everything's going up, from beef to cars to child care to health care, everything's going up. Nothing has come down. And people know when they've been lied to. And I think the gig is up for Donald Trump. People see who he is. He's just trying to line his own pockets and those of his family. And Republicans are allowing him and enabling him to do this, and they won't stand up. I think what happened is, and what's going to continue to happen is it's probably not good to be MAGA when MAGA ain't on the ballot. Sooner or later you have to be responsible. You have to stand up to Donald Trump. Republicans in Virginia found out that fail to stand up to Donald Trump for their own constituents hurt them. And I'll watch to see if they've learned any lessons. I think we need a robust, honest, two party system. But right now, the Republicans in Virginia have lost the right to be a good governing partner because, and it's not just me saying this, the voters gave us these huge majorities because they don't believe they have a right to be good governing partners because they've not been able to stand up to Donald Trump in the face of his attacks on Virginia's jobs, Virginia's health care and Virginia's citizens. Right.

Interviewer (13:02)

At some point, some of the things that are happening are really are not about Democrat, Republican, Independent. It's just like responsible, grown up behavior as the floor. And these Trump candidates and Trump, like, they're just not behaving as stewards of responsible governance or set that aside. Like, they're not behaving like grown ups. Like, I just sometimes watch their behavior. And I said, look, if a second grader was behaving like this in elementary school, you know, they would probably need to be, you know, called out and saying, you know, that's not how people behave, you know, and that's on a daily basis. The way these MAGA people, like, just, just act. It's like it's just strange behavior and it has very dangerous consequences.

Don Scott (13:50)

Yeah. When you see like, you know, Secretary Hegseth, you know, and these other folks, I mean, it's like the meanest people on Twitter who are anonymous actually are now running the federal government. It's like that's what's going on right now. We have some folks that are running the federal government that have zero empathy for the people that they're supposed to serve. They don't have it. They need to go out and touch grass and deal with some real people because they are so far removed from the struggles of everyday Americans that they have lost sight of what their responsibilities are. And so I think we have an obligation, Democrats here in Virginia at least, is to remind the country, you know, we want to be maba, you know, we want to make America boring again. You remember when you didn't turn on the TV and your anxiety levels didn't go up, we want to make America boring again. Where we have competent government, responsive government and deliver. At the end of the day, we want to deliver. It's not just good enough to win. You have to win and then you have to deliver. And that's what we plan on doing here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Interviewer (14:42)

You know, when I read that Supreme Court decision, I will end on this. It seems to be an invitation in a way that didn't exist before. You know, for better or for worse, that the floodgates are open. Legislatures, whatever you do, we don't touch. And as long as it's partisanship. In fact, even in Texas where there was a DOJ letter saying, hey, you got to do this in a way that deals with race and we got to move Hispanics around. And then, you know, and then Abbott were like, yeah, we got to move the Hispanics around in the. I'm like, I'm like, that's what the judge cited. It's like, well, what, you know, the federal district court judge is like, you're literally saying some, some pretty race based things that you're not allowed to say after a nine day trial. But even there, the most egregious of circumstance, the Supreme Court goes, you know what, we ain't touching this. So based on their own precedent, when we talk about 10:1 or whatever they seem to be saying, until a federal law is passed banning this, go at it, just do whatever you want to do. I don't think that's a great outcome. But Democrats can't unilaterally disarm. It's. Can I give you the final word?

Don Scott (15:51)

Yeah, we can't unilaterally disarm. I think Supreme Court Justice Kagan said it best when she talked about, you know, the Supreme Court has overruled some Trump appointees who said this is racist, it's wrong, and it can't go forward at the district court level. And they just took a weekend and took a read and overturned all of it and know that they didn't get it right. And so I think we have an opportunity and an obligation, I think, to try to level a pay and fail to prevent the Republicans from totally manipulating.

Don Scott (16:26)

The midterms. We don't have a choice right now. I mean, if you can't figure out where you are in this. And lastly, that's what I'm gonna say. Spare me the Republicans lecturing us on what we're doing when they won't even say a word about what Donald Trump is doing. They're trying to say, oh no, Virginia is different, but you will benefit from that. And so they won't say a word about what's happening in North Carolina and Texas and Indiana and now Florida. But they'll try to lecture us. So spare me the lectures and the outright and the fake outrage. Here in Virginia, we have an opportunity and obligation to make sure that we protect the franchise for voters here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, to make sure that the people who've been, who've been lost their jobs, the veterans who've been laid off, have a say and will have the ability to push back in the midterms to put a check on Donald Trump, because we know Republicans will not. Anytime MTG is the voice of reason in the Republican Party, you know that train is off the tracks. Thank you for having me.

Interviewer (17:23)

Great to have you here. The 58th speaker of Virginia's House of Delegates, Speaker Don Scott. Thanks for joining.

Don Scott (17:28)

Thank you for having me, my friend.

Interviewer (17:30)

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Don Scott (17:36)

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Interviewer (17:36)

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