WASHINGTON – Longtime Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, died on April 22, a day after he'd cast a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. He was 80 years old.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, confirmed his death. Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-New York, also offered his condolences on Capitol Hill, calling him a friend and saying he was "going to be missed."
"I was just with him yesterday," Meeks said. The Georgia lawmaker was running for reelection, seeking another term in the House.
Scott's office did not immediately identify his cause of death. Concerns about his health had spread on Capitol Hill in recent years.
The congressman's passing will further shrink Democrats' voting members in the lower chamber and comes on the heels of the April 21 resignation of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat. Republicans still have a razor-thin majority in the chamber, with 217 GOP lawmakers, 212 Democrats, one independent and five vacancies.
