STATEMENT: Texas’ New Interim Attorney General Has Troubling History as Election Denier

AUSTIN —  On Wednesday, May 31, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his appointment of John Scott to be Texas’ interim Attorney General. 

Prior to his appointment as Texas Secretary of State – John Scott briefly represented Donald Trump’s legal effort to challenge the election results in Pennsylvania. In Texas, Scott supervised the widely criticized election audits provoked by election deniers and publicly applauded the debunked election denier film ‘2,000 Mules’. Scott also oversaw, and was blamed, for the tumultuous implementation of anti-voter bill SB1 in the 2022 election which caused tens of thousands of registered Texans to have their votes rejected due to confusion. Scott resigned in December, after just 14 months into his role. 

Statement from Katya Ehresman, voting rights program manager for Common Cause Texas:

“Texans deserve better than John Scott, who as Texas Secretary of State failed voters with his bungled implementation of election laws that led to tens of thousands of rejected ballots. We also know he’s backed baseless and false claims fromDonald Trump in the former president’s desperate attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Texans deserve a new era of integrity in our state government. We hope that in this new role, John Scott will put the needs of everyday Texans front and foremost, and he will leave behind his past history of flouting disinformation and lies about our election processes.”