RICHMOND — During a recess on his first day as speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) was posing for photos with seemingly everyone in the packed House chamber.
Republicans, Democrats, family members, relatives of other delegates — all wanted a keepsake of the historic moment when Scott became the first African American to hold the position in 405 years of Virginia history.
Then a man in a gray suit with a shock of white hair reached the dais. Scott held out his arms, shook the man’s hand, embraced him.
It was former governor Robert McDonnell — at first glance, one of the last people you’d expect to see up there with Scott on his big day.
McDonnell, a Republican, left office in disgrace in 2014 to face indictment and eventual conviction on federal corruption charges. Though the conviction was overturned on appeal, McDonnell has kept a much lower profile than most former Virginia governors.
But it was McDonnell, while he still served as governor, who a decade ago restored Scott’s voting rights after Scott served nearly eight years in federal prison on a drug-related conviction.
Scott went on to get his law license, become a successful defense lawyer and win election to the House of Delegates. Now he was making history. And he invited McDonnell to be there — the man who technically made it possible, and whom he had never met in person.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Scott said as they greeted each other.
Redemption had been a theme of the day, given Scott’s unique path to the second-most-powerful job in Virginia.
“Del. Scott understands the redemptive power of God,” Del. Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William), a minister, said as he rose to officially nominate Scott for the position of speaker. His voice cracking with emotion, Torian, who is Black, noted the history of the moment.
“It is my hope that all of us as Virginians will have an appreciation for history. For over 400 years ago, people who looked like Delegate Scott gave of their sweat, blood and tears to help build this Capitol. And I would say that it is only right and fitting and appropriate that 400 years later a person of color, an African American … now stands to help lead this House of Delegates,” Torian said to thunderous applause.
The nomination was seconded by Del. Terry L. Austin (R-Botetourt), who is White and from a rural part of the state and has formed an unlikely friendship with Scott. “It is an honor,” Austin said.
Scott’s speech, after he was sworn in by Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, was at times raw and personal. In thanking his wife — Mellanda, a dentist, who watched from the gallery with their daughter, Peyton — Scott described the transformative power of her faith in him.
He had just come out of prison; she was teaching dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania. “When I was at my lowest, you looked at me and saw me exactly where I’m standing right now,” he said, and wiped tears from his face as his fellow delegates applauded.
But it was his mother who Scott said built the foundation of strength that got him to this point — a single mother who worked all her life to raise six kids. That, too, left Scott in tears. “I know I’m a little soft right now, but I’m really tough, and I got that toughness from her,” he said.
Helen Scott sat in a wheelchair in the back of the chamber and smiled back at him. In a brief chat with a reporter, she said she was proud of her son. “I just love him and I’m grateful for him,” she said. “He’s not going to do anything but help somebody.”
So after all the talk of faith and redemption, it did, actually, make sense to see McDonnell on the dais with Scott. These days, it’s McDonnell seeking redemption, easing back into political life as a confidant to other Republicans and making occasional appearances in Richmond.
After chatting with Scott, the former governor was all smiles.
“This is a very special moment,” McDonnell said. “For every young kid that makes a mistake, they can look at Don Scott and say, ‘I’ll never give up. I can still be what I want to be in America.’ ”
