In just two years, Democratic Delegate Don Scott Jr. has done the extraordinary— leaping from novice legislator to House Minority Leader.

The 52-year-old Portsmouth attorney made history Wednesday when his Democratic colleagues in the House elected him to take charge and take on the challenge of rebuilding a majority.

First elected to the House in 2019 from the 80th District, Delegate Scott led the charge to oust the first female and Jewish House leader, Fairfax Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn, after the Democratic ranks in the House shrank from 55 to 48 members following the 2021 election.

As her replacement, Delegate Scott just became the first Black man to fill the Minority Leader post in the legislature, with a prospect of becoming speaker should Democrats regain their House majority.

Delegate Scott, who grew up in a poor Texas family and served time in prison before becoming an attorney, beat out two others who sought the post, including another Black Democratic leader, Alexandria Delegate Charniele Herring, who will continue as the Democratic Caucus chair, the No. 2 post she has held since 2019.

Described by supporters as an authentic voice, Delegate Scott told reporters that the goal will be to concentrate on issues important to Virginians.

He quickly drew a distinction with Republicans in laying what appears to be part of his game plan for generating more support for party members.

“I’m not afraid to stand up and say it: (Gov.) Youngkin and his party don’t care one bit about effective governance or how their decisions impact everyday Virginians. They are happy to sit back and stoke the flames of the culture while our constituents struggle to make ends meet.”

In contrast, Delegate Scott said he and his fellow Democrats “don’t want to fight the culture wars. We want to deal with how do we protect a family’s right to choose whether to have an abortion or not and how do we make sure that we protect our children in schools.”

Democrats also need to focus on what lies ahead, rather than looking back to have a chance to regain a working majority, he said. “Elections are about the future. So we need to tell a story about what happens next year, what happens in the future. People want to know what does the future look like for them with Democrats in the majority.”