Austin Scott

Scott was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives at the age of 26. He was the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. He also served on the Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means Committee, where he was the chairman of the Public Policy Subcommittee. The District he represented consists of Tift and Turner counties. Scott is now faced with a new challenge in the 2020 Election for Georgia's 8th District, against Congressional Candidate Danny Ellyson (Republican) of Houston County GA.

On June 15, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law the Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act, a bill authored by Scott and supported in the United States Senate by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson to require the Department of the Interior to provide outer burial receptacles for veterans' remains buried in a national cemetery administered by the National Park Service.

Scott is in favor of a Balanced budget amendment. He voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In 2016, Scott faced a Democratic opponent for the first time since his initial run for the seat when private investigator James Neal Harris declared for the race. Scott turned back this challenge fairly easily, taking 67.6% of the vote and carrying every county in the district.

As a senior member of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Scott has sponsored and supported numerous sportsmen's and conservation bills. In the 115th Congress, Scott introduced legislation to modernize the Pittman–Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to allow state fish and wildlife agencies to use Pittman-Robertson funds for public relations and for the construction, operation, and maintenance of public ranges, which passed the House of Representatives during the 115th Congress.

Scott opposes same-sex marriage and is in favor of a Federal Marriage Amendment. He voted against the 2013 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act.

Scott was selected by his colleagues as freshman class president for the 112th Congress.

Scott, along with millions funded by National PAC's, challenged Democratic incumbent Jim Marshall in Georgia's eighth congressional district. He defeated Marshall in the general election on November 2, 2010, with 53% of the vote to Marshall's 47%.

In 2010, Scott signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 8th somewhat more secure for Scott. Notably, most of Macon and surrounding Bibb County (except for a sliver in the north) were drawn into the neighboring 2nd district. Macon had been the heart of the 8th and its predecessors for more than a century. To make up for the loss of population, the General Assembly pushed the 8th all the way to the Florida border, adding Thomasville and most of Valdosta from the old 2nd. The old 8th already had a significant Republican lean, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10. However, the new 8th had a CPVI of R+15, making it the 11th most Republican district in the Eastern Time Zone and one of the most Republican districts in the country.

Scott originally planned to campaign for Governor of Georgia, announcing his campaign in January 2009. He made headlines for walking more than 1,000 miles around the state in his "Walk of Georgia", introducing a bill to abolish tolls on Georgia 400, and leading the charge in pressuring Georgia State Attorney General Thurbert Baker to file a lawsuit against the federal government over the controversial health care reform bill passed in March 2010. In April 2010, Scott withdrew from the race for Governor to instead run for U.S. Congress.

In 2001, Scott was the first Republican in the Georgia House to work with Democrats to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state's flag.

James Austin Scott (born December 10, 1969) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 8th congressional district since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Scott served in the Georgia House of Representatives before being elected to the House of Representatives.