Georgia Rep. David Scott has long been one of the lousiest Democrats in the House, and he may be in for a primary challenge in his safely blue suburban Atlanta seat. Michael Owens, who is stepping down as chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party later this month, said last week he was “strongly considering” a bid against Scott.
Owens opposed Scott once before, in 2014, but he raised very little money and ultimately lost by a lopsided 82-18 margin. Owens took over as chair of the Cobb County Democrats in November of 2016 ahead of a very successful cycle for Team Blue in this ancestrally red county, so if he runs again, he may earn more notice. The Democratic base has also grown much less tolerant of wayward members in recent years.
That’s bad news for Scott, who is as shabby as they come. In 2016, he endorsed Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson’s bid for re-election, declaring of his home-state senator, “He's my friend. He's my partner. And I always look out for my partners.” Later that year, Scott donated $1,000 to Utah Rep. Mia Love, a Republican who at the time was in a competitive contest. Both Republicans won and spent the next two years loyally voting to for Donald Trump’s agenda; Love finally went down in defeat in 2018, but Isakson isn’t up again until 2022.
It’s not just Scott’s damaging displays of "bipartisanship" that makes him so awful: He’s often a bad vote, too. He's vocally sided with Republicans, for instance, to undermine regulations aimed at reining in predatory payday lenders and preventing auto dealers from charging higher interest rates to people of color.
Fortunately, Georgia’s 13th District, which includes suburban communities to the south and west of Atlanta, backed Hillary Clinton by a wide 71-26 margin, so there’s no reason local Democrats need to put up with this any longer.
Correction: This piece has been edited to remove a statement that Rep. David Scott had cosponsored the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." Scott’s office says that the congressman’s name is incorrectly listed as a cosponsor on ProPublica, a site that tracks legislation.
