Scott Gordon Perry was born in San Diego, California, to Cecile Lenig and Jim Perry.[5] Scott's grandparents were Colombian immigrants.[6][7] His mother was a flight attendant and left an abusive relationship with his father after he was born.[5] She moved with him and his brother to south-central Pennsylvania, when he was seven.[8] After losing her flight attendant job, she worked for a wholesale food company.[5] The family lived first in Harrisburg and then soon afterwards moved to Dillsburg.[8]
Perry and his family were on public assistance for several years during his youth. He was raised in a simple home that initially had no electricity and plumbing, pumping water from a well and cutting firewood with his older brother in the winter.[5] When he was eleven years old, his mother married his step father, Daniel Chimel, who was an airplane pilot and air traffic controller.[5]
Perry began working at age 13, picking fruit at Ashcombe's Farm in Mechanicsburg. Since then, he has worked as a mechanic, dock worker, draftsman and a licensed insurance agent, among other jobs.[8]
After receiving his commission, Perry qualified as a helicopter pilot in the United States Army Aviation Branch,[12] where he earned qualifications in numerous aircraft (Huey, Cayuse, Kiowa, Cobra, Chinook, Apache, and Blackhawk) and an Instructor Pilot rating.[13] He commanded military units at the company, battalion and brigade levels and served in a variety of staff assignments as he advanced through the ranks, including executive officer of 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment during deployment to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002–03, and commander of 2nd Battalion (General Support), 104th Aviation Regiment beginning in 2008.[12]
Iraq War
In 2009–2010, Perry commanded 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment during its service in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.[12] As Task Force Diablo, 2-104th Aviation was credited with flying 1,400 missions, accruing over 10,000 combat flight hours, and transporting over 3 million pounds of cargo and 50,000 soldiers and civilians.[14] Perry flew 44 combat missions in Iraq,[15] and accrued nearly 200 combat flight hours.[16] On Thanksgiving Day 2009, Perry and some of his soldiers participated in a race around the airfield at Camp Adder.[17]
Post-Iraq
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).[12] From 2012 to 2014, he commanded the garrison at the Fort Indiantown Gap National Training Center.[12] In May 2014, Perry was assigned as assistant division commander of the 28th Infantry Division and promoted to brigadier general in November 2015.[18][10][19] In May 2016, he was selected as assistant adjutant general at the Pennsylvania National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters.[12] Perry retired from the Pennsylvania National Guard on March 1, 2019.[20]
Business career
After graduating from college, Perry co-founded mechanical contracting business Hydrotech Mechanical Services. In 2002, Perry was charged with falsifying reports to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).[21] The reports regarded levels of chlorine and acidity at a sewage plant. He completed the state's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program and the company was fined $5,000. Perry says he learned of problems at the sewage plant and reported the problems to the DEP; he said "I saw something going on that I thought was wrong, and as bureaucrats often do, they pursued me in that regard."[22]
Government service
Before entering politics, Perry chaired the Carroll Township Planning Commission, and was a member of the Township Source Water Protection Committee. He chaired the Dillsburg Area Wellhead Protection Advisory Committee and served on the Dillsburg Revitalization Committee. He remains a member of the Jaycees and held the office of regional director for the state organization. He is a member of Dillsburg American Legion Post #26, Dillsburg Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW Post #6771, and Lions Club International.[23]
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Elections
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.[24] He won the general election with 71% of the vote, and took office on January 2, 2007.[25][26] In 2008, Perry was reelected to a second term unopposed.[27] In 2010, he was reelected to a third term unopposed.[27]
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 running for the seat.[29]
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 three times as many votes.[30] Political newcomer Harry Perkinson, an engineer,[31] advanced in a two-way Democratic primary.[32] Perry won the general election, 60%–34%.[33]
In 2014, Perry was unopposed in the Republican primary and the former Harrisburg mayor, Linda D. Thompson, was unopposed in the Democratic primary.[34] Perry won the general election, 75%–25%.[35]
Perry won the 2016 election with no primary challenge and no official Democratic opponent. Joshua Burkholder of Harrisburg, a political novice, withdrew from the Democratic primary after too many signatures on his qualifying petition were successfully challenged. His subsequent write-in candidacy won the Democratic primary, but he was unaffiliated in the general election.[36][37][38][39][40] Perry defeated Burkholder, 66%–34%.[41]
After ruling the state's congressional map 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.[42] 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%;[43] Trump carried the old 4th with 58% of the vote.[44]
Pastor and Army veteran George Scott won the Democratic primary by a narrow margin and opposed Perry in the general election for the reconfigured 10th. The two debated in October before Perry won with 51.3% of the vote to Scott's 48.7%, with the new district boundaries taking effect in 2019.[45][46][47][48] Perry held on by winning the district's share of his home county, York County, by 11,600 votes.[49]
On January 2, 2024, a lawsuit seeking to bar Perry from the 2024 ballot via Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution was filed by Democratic activist Gene Stilp.[54][55] The suit was withdrawn after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that only Congress can disqualify federal candidates.[56] Perry faced Democratic nominee Janelle Stelson in the general election.[57] The race was closely watched because it took place in a swing district in a swing state.[58] Perry ultimately defeated Stelson with 50.8% of the vote.[59]
Tenure
Perry is a member of the Freedom Caucus.[60] In November 2021, he was elected to chair the group, succeeding Andy Biggs in January 2022;[61]Bob Good succeeded Perry as chair in January 2024.[4]
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.[63][64][65]
In October 2020, Perry was one of 17 Republicans to vote against a House resolution to formally condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory.[67] 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."[68][69]
Perry participated in attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, including by attempting to replace Pennsylvania's electors.[2] The House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack called for an interview with Perry, the first time it publicly sought to question a sitting member of Congress. Perry declined the request the next day. The panel's chairperson said it had evidence from several witnesses that Perry had "an important role" in efforts to install Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general as part of attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[70] According to the committee, Perry introduced President Donald Trump to environmental lawyer Jeffrey Clark. The committee subpoenaed Perry on May 12, 2022,[71] and Perry declined to participate, citing legal authority. After the November 2022 elections, the committee referred Perry to the House Ethics Panel for refusing their subpoena; it is unclear whether the panel will support any action.
In March 2021, Perry voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[72][73] He said only 9% of the act's spending was allotted to defeat the COVID-19 virus, while the rest would advance Democratic policies.[74]
In April 2021, at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee meeting on immigration, days after Fox News host Tucker Carlson promoted the Great Replacement theory, Perry said, "For many Americans, what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is, what appears to them is we're replacing national-born American—native-born Americans to permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation."[75]
In June 2021, Perry was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6.[76] He cosponsored a bill, introduced the same day, that would give the same medal to police officers without mentioning the attack.[77]
At the June 2021 Republican Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, Perry said Democrats "are not the loyal opposition. They are the opposition to everything you love and believe in" and "want to destroy the country you grew up in", invoking comparisons to Nazis.[78][79]
In July 2022, Perry was among 47 House Republicans to vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and protect the right to same-sex marriage at a federal level.[80] Perry said, "Agree or disagree with same-sex marriage, my vote affirmed my long-held belief that Americans who enter into legal agreements deserve to live their lives without the threat that our federal government will dissolve what they've built."[81] In December 2022, Perry voted against the final version of the bill. He said his initial "yes" vote was a mistake based on a lack of time to review the legislation.[82]
In May 2024, CNN obtained a recording in which Perry told a closed door briefing of the House Oversight Committee that Ku Klux Klan is "the military wing of the Democratic party" and that migrants coming to the U.S. "have no interest in being Americans." Perry said "Replacement theory is real. They added white to it to stop everybody from talking about it," in reference to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory in the United States.[83]
Foreign policy
In March 2021, Perry was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état that overwhelmingly passed.[84]
In July 2021, Perry voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would increase by 8,000 the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military during its invasion of Afghanistan while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs; the bill passed in the House 407–16.[85]
In April 2022, Perry voted against a bill to encourage documentation and preservation of Russian war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.[86]
In 2023, Perry was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.[87][88]
In 2024, Perry voted against two multi-billion dollar foreign aid packages which included money for Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel. Perry opposed House speaker Mike Johnson's tactic of bundling aid bills, saying he preferred single subject bills. Perry also objected to $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, citing the Israeli government's claim that Hamas has been stealing aid intended for Gaza's civilians.[89]
Climate change
Perry frequently opposes proposed climate change policies in Congress, including policies which have support within the GOP.[90] During 2023 testimony before the Foreign Affairs committee by the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, Perry presented charts that he said showed climate change had stopped since 2016. This position is sharply at odds with the scientific consensus on climate change.[91][92]
Abortion policy
Perry opposes a federal abortion ban. He has "repeatedly stated his support for IVF, and says that he maintains his personal pro-life stance while continuing to leave the issue to the states."[93]
Veterans
The PACT ACT which expanded VA benefits to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during their military service, received a "nay" from Perry.[94] Regarding cannabis, despite lobbying from VSOs such as the DAV,[95] Perry also voted against the 2022 MORE Act.[96]
Involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Perry was "one of the leading figures in the effort to throw out Pennsylvania's votes in the 2020 presidential election."[2]
After the election, Perry promoted false claims of election fraud.[103][70] Days after the election, in text messages to White House chief of staffMark Meadows, Perry suggested John Ratcliffe should direct the National Security Agency to investigate alleged Chinese hacking. Perry also asserted "the Brits" were behind a conspiracy to manipulate voting machines and that CIA director Gina Haspel was covering it up. The next month, he sent Meadows a link to a YouTube video that asserted voting machines had been manipulated via satellite from Italy; Meadows later sent the video to former Acting Attorney General Richard Donoghue, seeking an investigation.[104][105][106] Donoghue told the committee the contentions in the video, originating from QAnon and far-right platforms which had been brought to the White House, were "pure insanity."[107]
Perry reportedly played a key role in a December 2020 crisis at the Justice Department, in which Trump considered firing Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and replacing him with Jeffrey Clark, the acting chief of the Civil Division of the DOJ.[70] According to The Los Angeles Times, Perry "prompted" Trump to consider the replacement.[110]The New York Times reported that Perry introduced Clark to Trump because Clark's "openness to conspiracy theories about election fraud presented Mr. Trump with a welcome change from Rosen, who stood by the results of the election and had repeatedly resisted the president's efforts to undo them."[70]
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 suggesting the DOJ had evidence of voter fraud and suggesting the legislators invalidate Georgia's electoral votes, even though the DOJ had investigated reports of fraud but found nothing significant, as attorney general Bill Barr had publicly announced weeks earlier.[70][111] Clark drafted a letter to Georgia officials and presented it to Rosen and his deputy Donoghue. It claimed the DOJ had "identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States" and urged the Georgia legislature to convene a special session for the "purpose of considering issues pertaining to the appointment of Presidential Electors." Rosen and Donoghue rejected the proposal.[112]
In August 2021, CNN reported that Ratcliffe had briefed top Justice Department officials that no evidence had been found of any foreign powers' interference with voting machines. Clark was reportedly concerned that intelligence community analysts were withholding information and believed Perry and others knew more about possible foreign interference. Clark requested authorization from Rosen and Donoghue for another briefing from Ratcliffe, asserting hackers had found that "a Dominion machine accessed the Internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China."[113]
On January 6, 2021, Perry joined Missouri senator Josh Hawley in objecting to counting Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.[114] During the storming of the U.S. Capitol that day, Perry and his congressional colleagues were ushered to a secure location.[115]
On December 20, 2021, House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to Perry asking him to provide information about his involvement in the effort to install Clark as acting attorney general. Thompson believed Perry had been involved in the effort to install Clark, given previous testimony from Rosen and Donoghue, as well as communications between Perry and Meadows.[116][117][118] Perry declined the request the next day, asserting the committee was illegitimate.[119] Among several text messages to Meadows the committee released on December 14 was one attributed to a "member of Congress" dated January 5 that read "Please check your signal", a reference to the encrypted messaging system Signal. In his letter to Perry, Thompson mentioned evidence that Perry had communicated with Meadows using Signal, though Perry denied sending that particular text message.[120][121][117] CNN acquired and published additional Meadows text messages in April 2022 that confirmed Perry had sent that message.[104]
On June 9, 2022, Select Committee member Liz Cheney asserted that Perry requested a presidential pardon from Trump in the weeks after the January 6 attack.[122][123] Perry denied Cheney's assertion, calling it "an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie".[124] On June 23, 2022, the Select Committee broadcast testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows, who said Perry was one of several lawmakers who contacted her to "inquire about preemptive pardons."[125] In response, Perry said he had never spoken with any White House staff about a pardon for him or any other members of Congress.[126][106]
In August 2022, Perry reported that three FBI agents had seized his cellphone after presenting him with a warrant. He called the seizure an "unnecessary and aggressive action".[127] Perry asked Chief Judge of the D.C. District CourtBeryl Howell to prevent investigators from accessing 2,219 documents stored on his phone, citing the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution. On February 24, 2023, Howell unsealed her December 2022 ruling that found Perry had an "astonishing view" of his immunity, ordering him to disclose 2,055 messages, including all 960 of his contacts with members of the executive branch.[128] The ruling was appealed to a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in September 2023 directed Howell's successor Jeb Boasberg to scrutinize all 2,055 messages; he ruled in December 2023 that investigators could see 1,659 messages and Perry could withhold 396 others.[129][130]
Personal life
Perry and his wife, Christy reside in northern York County.[131] They have two children.[132]
^ abcdef"Brigadier General Scott G. Perry". National Guard General Officer Management Office. Arlington, VA: National Guard Bureau. 2015. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
^Josh Marshall, chief editor of Talking Points Memo, summarised his post-Iraq military career so: "Perry is a retired Brigadier General. Among other things he was an Army helicopter pilot and he flew missions in Iraq. A Brigadier General is a one star. So the first rung on the four rank gradations of being a general officer. ... He was in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. So even though his career stretched over four decades he wasn't a full time soldier." TPM Edblog, April 26, 2022 8:22 p.mArchived April 27, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
^"2016 Primary Withdrawals"(PDF). Pennsylvania Department of State. April 21, 2016. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
^Benner, Katie (June 5, 2021). "Meadows Pressed Justice Dept. to Investigate Election Fraud Claims". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2022. In five emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Mr. Meadows asked Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen to examine debunked claims of election fraud [that] ... included a fantastical theory that people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the United States and switch votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr.
^ abThompson, Bennie G. (December 20, 2021). "Letter to Representative Scott Perry"(PDF). House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Archived(PDF) from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
