Scott Perry (politician)

Perry began his military career in 1980 when he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.[5] He attended basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey,[5] and graduated from Advanced Individual Training[6] at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, as a technical drafting specialist.[7] He graduated from Pennsylvania's Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery.[5]

After receiving his commission, Perry qualified as a helicopter pilot in the Aviation branch.[8] He served in a variety of staff and command assignments as he advanced through the ranks, including executive officer of 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment during deployment to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002–3, and commander of 2nd Battalion (General Support), 104th Aviation Regiment beginning in 2008.[9]

In 2009–10, Perry commanded 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment during its pre-deployment training and service in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.[9] As Task Force Diablo, 2-104th Aviation was credited with flying 1,400 missions, accruing over 13,000 combat flight hours, and transporting over 3 million pounds of cargo and 43,000 soldiers and civilians.[9] Perry was credited with flying 44 missions and accruing nearly 200 combat flight hours.[9]

Brig. Gen. Scott Perry in 2015

After returning from Iraq, Perry was promoted to colonel and assigned to command the Pennsylvania National Guard's 166th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) (2010–12).[9] From 2012 to 2014, he commanded the garrison at the Fort Indiantown Gap National Training Center.[9] In May 2014, Perry was assigned as one of the assistant division commanders of the 28th Infantry Division, and he was promoted to brigadier general in November 2015.[5] In May 2016, Perry was assigned as assistant adjutant general for Army at the Pennsylvania National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters.[9] He retired from the Pennsylvania National Guard on March 1, 2019.[10]

In 2006, State Representative Bruce Smith of Pennsylvania's 92nd House district decided to retire. Perry won the Republican primary with 41% of the vote.[13] He won the general election with 71% of the vote.[14] He took office on January 2, 2007.[15] In 2008, he was reelected to a second term unopposed.[16] In 2010, he was reelected to a third term unopposed.[16]

In 2012, Perry gave up his state house seat to run for the 4th congressional district. The district had previously been the 19th district, represented by six-term incumbent Republican Todd Platts, who was giving up the seat to honor a self-imposed term limit. In 2010, when Platts wanted to become U.S. Comptroller General, he spoke to Perry about his running for the seat.[18]

Perry won a seven-way primary with over 50% of the vote. Although outspent nearly 2 to 1 in the campaign, he beat his closest competitor with nearly 3 times as many votes.

On November 6, 2012, Perry defeated Democrat Harry Perkinson 60%–34%.[19]

In 2014, Perry was unchallenged in the Republican primary. His Democratic Party challenger in the general election was former Harrisburg mayor Linda D. Thompson. Perry won the general election 75%–25%.[20]

Perry was unchallenged in the 2016 Republican primary. His Democratic Party challenger in the general election was Joshua Burkholder of Harrisburg.[21] Perry won the election 66%–34%.[22]

After ruling that the state's congressional map was an unconstitutional gerrymander, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a new map for the 2018 elections. Perry's district was renumbered the 10th and made significantly more compact than its predecessor. It lost most of the more rural and Republican areas of York County to the neighboring 11th district (the old 16th). To make up for the loss in population, it was pushed slightly to the north, absorbing the remainder of Democratic-leaning Dauphin County that had not been in the old 4th.[23] On paper, the new district was less Republican than its predecessor. Had the district existed in 2016, Donald Trump would have won it with 52% of the vote to Hillary Clinton's 43%;[24] Trump carried the old 4th with 58% of the vote.[25]

Pastor and Army veteran George Scott won the Democratic primary by a narrow margin and challenged Perry in the general election for the reconfigured 10th. The two debated each other in October before Perry won election with 51.3% of the vote to Scott's 48.7%, with the new district boundaries taking effect in 2019.[26][27][28][29] Perry held on by winning the district's share of his home county, York County, by 11,600 votes, almost double the overall margin of 7,700.[30] This was the district's closest race since 1974, when Bill Goodling won his first term in what was then the 19th with 51% of the vote.[31] It was also the first time since then that a Democrat crossed the 40% mark.

Perry is a member of the Freedom Caucus.[32]

In October 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Perry accused CNN anchor Chris Cuomo of exaggerating the crisis in Puerto Rico.[33]

In January 2018, Perry suggested that ISIS might have been involved in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities have maintained that gunman Stephen Paddock acted alone.[34][35][36]

In December 2019, Perry was one of 195 Republicans to vote against both articles of impeachment against President Trump.[37]

In October 2020, Perry was one of 17 Republicans who voted against a House resolution to formally condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory.[38] He said he voted against the resolution because he was concerned about infringements on free speech, saying "it's very dangerous for the government ... to determine what is okay to like and what is not okay to like."[39][40]

After the 2020 elections, Perry promoted false claims of fraud in the elections.[41][42][43]

In December 2020, Perry was one of 126 Republican House members to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[44] Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[45][46][47]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." She also reprimanded Perry and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions."[48][49] New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat Perry and the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit, arguing that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."[50]

On January 6, 2021, Perry joined Missouri Senator Josh Hawley in objecting to the counting of Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.[51] During the storming of the US Capitol that day, Perry and many congressional colleagues were ushered to a secure location. Video footage shows that Perry and five other House members refused surgical masks offered by a colleague in the safe room.[52]

Perry reportedly played a role in a crisis at the Justice Department in which Trump considered firing acting attorney general Jeffrey A. Rosen and replacing him with Jeffrey Bossert Clark, the acting chief of the civil division of the Department of Justice.[43] Perry introduced Clark to Trump because Clark's "openness to conspiracy theories about election fraud presented Mr. Trump with a welcome change from the acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, who stood by the results of the election and had repeatedly resisted the president's efforts to undo them."[43] Before the certification of the electoral college vote on January 6, Perry and Clark reportedly discussed a plan in which the Justice Department would send Georgia legislators a letter threatening an investigation into voter fraud and an invalidation of Georgia's electoral votes, even though "the department’s dozens of voter fraud investigations nationwide had not turned up enough instances of fraud to alter the outcome of the election."[43]

• Freedom Caucus[58]
• Second Amendment Caucus