Robert Cortez Scott (born April 30, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district since 1993.

[4] Scott's mother Mae Hamlin-Scott, a graduate in chemistry of the University of Michigan, was an educator who taught science in the Newport News public schools.

[9] In 1992, the Department of Justice directed the Virginia legislature to draw a black-majority district after the 1990 census.

The legislature responded by shifting most of the black residents of Hampton Roads and Richmond into a newly created 3rd district.

[12] After redistricting, Scott's district was made even safer; he picked up all of Portsmouth and Newport News, as well as Petersburg.

[16] Scott's annual Labor Day picnic, usually held at his mother's residence in Newport News, is a major campaign stop for statewide and federal candidates in Virginia.

In 1997, Scott was one of two votes against the creation of a national registry for crimes against children and sexually violent offenders.

[18] In 2010, Scott co-sponsored the "Lee-Scott bill" with Barbara Lee to make it easier on individuals who had been on unemployment for 99 weeks without finding work.

Congressman Scott and I plan to continue to push for passage of this legislation because it is simply the right thing to do.

[21] In 2019, Scott voted in favor of the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[22] and urged Congress members to support the legislation.

He opposed the Patriot Act, explaining that officials could abuse their power by promoting anti-terrorist security and develop unfair "racial profiling".

[16] For his tenure as the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee in the 116th Congress, Scott earned an "A" grade from the nonpartisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.

[25] Scott voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

[26] Scott was one of two Democrats along with Nikema Williams who voted against the expulsion of former New York representative George Santos.

In August 2016, former Democratic Governor of Virginia Douglas Wilder stated that he would want Governor Terry McAuliffe to appoint Scott to the seat, stating that it "would be good for the commonwealth, good for the Democratic Party, of which Bobby has been most supportive, and great for our nation.

[35] On December 15, 2017, Marsheri Everson (also known as M. Reese Everson), a former congressional fellow who had worked in Scott's office, alleged that Scott had sexually harassed her in 2013, touching her on the knee and back on separate occasions, then propositioning her with an inappropriate relationship after asking, "if you travel with me, are you going to be good?

[36] Everson was represented by two attorneys, one Jack Burkman, known for his involvement in the conspiracy theories surrounding the murder of Seth Rich[36] as well as his alleged involvement in a scheme to pay women to lie about sexual harassment claims against special counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller.