Joe Scarborough | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Scarborough in 2017 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's1st district | |
| In office January 3, 1995 – September 5, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Earl Hutto |
| Succeeded by | Jeff Miller |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Joseph Scarborough (1963-04-09)April 9, 1963 (age 62) Doraville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Party | Republican (before 2017) Independent (2017–present) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Alabama (BA) University of Florida (JD) |
Charles Joseph Scarborough (/ˈskɑːrbʌroʊ/; born April 9, 1963) is an American television host and former politician who is the co-host ofMorning Joe onMS NOW with his wifeMika Brzezinski andWillie Geist. He previously hostedScarborough Country on the same network. A former member of theRepublican Party, Scarborough was in theUnited States House of Representatives forFlorida's 1st district from 1995 to 2001. He was appointed to the President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce in 2002[1] and was a visitingfellow at theHarvard Institute of Politics at theHarvard Kennedy School of Government.[2] He was named in the 2011Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world.[3]
Scarborough was born inDoraville, Georgia in 1963,[4][5] the son of Mary Joanna (née Clark) and George Francis Scarborough, a businessman. He has two siblings.[6] In 1969, his family moved toMeridian, Mississippi, in 1973 toElmira, New York, and in 1978 toPensacola, Florida.[6] Scarborough attendedPensacola Catholic High School in Pensacola. He earned aBachelor of Arts degree in history from theUniversity of Alabama in 1985 and aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of Florida College of Law in 1990.[7] During this time, he wrote music and producedCDs with his band, Dixon Mills, including the albumCalling on Robert E. Lee,[8] and he also coached football and taught high school. During his first year of law school, Scarborough wrote a musical about televangelists calledThe Gospel According to Esther which premiered at theUniversity of Alabama to positive reviews.[9] Later, the musical was showcased at theAlabama Shakespeare Festival.[10]
Scarborough was admitted to theFlorida Bar in 1991[7] and practiced law inPensacola.[11]
Scarborough's most high-profile case was briefly representing Michael F. Griffin,[12][13][14] who murdered Dr.David Gunn in 1993. Griffin's father was a friend of Scarborough's in-laws, and Joe agreed to represent Griffin until the murder suspect found adequate representation.[15] Before removing himself from the case, Scarborough made several court appearances representing Griffin,[16] later saying: "There was no way in hell I could sit in at a civil trial, let alone a capital trial," referring to the prospect of prosecutors seeking thedeath penalty against Griffin.[17] Scarborough assisted Griffin in choosing other counsel from the many who offered their services, however, and helped shield the family from the media exposure,pro bono.[18][19]
Scarborough's political profile was also raised when he assisted with apetition drive in late-1993, leading a tax revolt that defeated[20] a proposed sixty-five percent increase in Pensacola's property taxes.[11]
In1994, Scarborough was elected to theU.S. House of Representatives forFlorida's 1st congressional district, becoming the first Republican to represent theFlorida Panhandle sinceReconstruction. The seat had become open when eight-termDemocratic incumbentEarl Hutto retired. In the general election, Scarborough defeated the Democratic candidate, Pensacola attorney Vince "Vinnie" Whibbs, Jr., with 61 percent of the vote. Whibbs was the son of former Pensacola mayorVince Whibbs. This district had not supported a Democratic candidate for U.S. president since1960; however, Democratic candidates had continued to hold most local offices well into the 1990s. Scarborough's win coincided with a large Republican wave, known as theRepublican Revolution, that allowed the Republicans to take the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years.
Scarborough was reelected with 72 percent of the vote in 1996. In 1998 and 2000, he faced only write-in candidates as opposition.[21][22]
In June 2000, during his congressional career, he received a 95 percent lifetime rating from theAmerican Conservative Union.[23] He signed theContract with America. Scarborough was a member of theArmed Services,Judiciary,Government Reform, andEducation committees. In 1998 he was named chairman of the Civil Service Committee.[24]
Scarborough was one of a group of about 40 freshmen Republican legislators who dubbed themselves the"New Federalists" afterThe Federalist Papers. Scarborough was elected political director of the incoming legislators. The New Federalists called for sweeping cuts in the U.S. government, including plans to "privatize, localize, consolidate, [or] eliminate"[25] the Departments ofCommerce,Education,Energy andHousing and Urban Development. House SpeakerNewt Gingrich tapped Scarborough to head a Republican task force on education, and Scarborough declared, "Our goal is to get as much money, power, and authority out of Washington and get as much money, power, and authority into the classroom as possible."[11] Rep.John Kasich (R-Ohio), then chairman of theHouse Budget Committee, adopted Scarborough's language eliminating the federal Department of Education in the 1996 House Budget Resolution.[26] The budget passed the House by a vote of 238–193.[27] Scarborough and the group played a pivotal role in pressing Gingrich to keep the GOP's promise to balance the federal budget.[28]
Scarborough supported a number ofanti-abortion positions while in Congress including banning family planning funding in US aid abroad; banningpartial-birth abortions; and making it illegal to transport minors to get an abortion.[29] He voted in favor of theUnborn Victims of Violence Act, that made it a crime to harm afetus during the commission of other crimes.[30]
Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from theUnited Nations after a four-year transition[25] and replace it with an international organization of democratic nations.[31] He voted to make theCorporation for Public Broadcasting self-sufficient[32] by eliminating federal funding. He also voted for the "Medicare Preservation act of 1995,"[33] which cut the projected growth of Medicare by $270 billion over ten years. Scarborough was one of few house Republicans to vote against efforts by Gingrich to cutMedicaid funding and the only Republican in the Florida delegation to vote against oil drilling royalty relief, which Scarborough blasted as "corporate welfare".[34] He voted against the "Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996,"[35] which raised theminimum wage to $5.15 an hour. Scarborough had a conservative voting record oneconomic,social, andforeign policy issues but was seen asmoderate onenvironmental issues andhuman rights causes, including supporting the closure of theSchool of the Americas and defending accused terroristLori Berenson.[11][36] Scarborough also teamed up with civil rights leaders in a controversial effort to rename a historic Pensacola street afterMartin Luther King, Jr. ThePensacola News Journal praised Scarborough’s leadership despite these efforts not being of political benefit to him.[37]
While in Congress, Scarborough received several awards, including the "Friend of the Taxpayer Award" fromAmericans for Tax Reform; the "Guardian of Small Business Award" from theNational Federation of Independent Business; the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from theUnited States Chamber of Commerce; the "Taxpayer's Hero Award" from theCitizens Against Government Waste; and the "Guardian of Seniors' Rights Award" from the60 Plus Association.[citation needed] In 1996, Scarborough spoke at theJohn Birch Society’s Council Dinner inWoodland Hills, Los Angeles.[38]
Scarborough was one of the 228 members of the House who voted toimpeach Bill Clinton in December 1998.[39]
| Year | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Vince Whibbs | 70,416 | 38% | Joe Scarborough | 112,974 | 62% |
| 1996 | Kevin Beck | 66,495 | 27% | Joe Scarborough | 175,946 | 73% |
| 1998 | Tom Wells (write-in) | 663 | 0% | Joe Scarborough | 140,525 | 99.5% |
| 2000 | Unopposed | N/A | 0% | Joe Scarborough | 226,473 | 100% |
In May 2001, five months into his fourth term in Congress, Scarborough stated his intention to resign to spend more time with his children. Of his resignation, Scarborough said, "The realization has come home to me that they're at a critical stage of their lives and I would rather be judged at the end of my life as a father than as a congressman."[45] Aspecial election was held in October 2001 to replace Scarborough. Since then, Scarborough has contemplated returning to politics several times.[46][47][48] In 2017, Scarborough left the Republican Party to become anindependent.[49]
In 1999, while still serving in Congress, Scarborough founded the free weekly Pensacola-area newspaperThe Florida Sun. The paper merged in 2001 and is now known as theIndependent News.[50]
After leaving Congress, Scarborough worked as an environmental lawyer in Florida.[51][52]
In April 2003,Scarborough Country debuted as a nightly primetime show on MSNBC.
In 2005 the program covered politics and popular culture. Scarborough broadcast the show fromBiloxi, MS, during the immediate aftermath ofHurricane Katrina. After three days of reporting on the scenes, Scarborough called the situation in theGulf Coast region "nothing short of a national disgrace".[53]The Times-Picayune wrote that Scarborough’s experiences “put him on the shortlist of network anchors and correspondents for whom Gulf Coast assignments during and immediately after Katrina proved life-changing.”[54] Because of Scarborough's criticism ofPresident Bush, theSan Francisco Chronicle said his Katrina coverage had "become essential viewing."[55] Presidential historianDouglas Brinkley wrote in his book on Katrina,The Great Deluge, that “Joe Scarborough was keenly attuned to the devastation along the Gulf Coast...and his diagnosis of the failures was right on the mark."[54]
On December 8, 2008, Scarborough andMorning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski began hosting a two-hour late-morningradio show onWABC (770 AM) inNew York City, replacing 12-year veteran hostJohn Gambling.[56][57][58] On April 26, 2010, the radio show was placed on "hiatus", which Scarborough said was to redevelop its format into a new three-hour show.[59] The show never returned.
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In May 2007, Scarborough became one of the rotating hosts auditioning for the slot vacated byImus in the Morning on MSNBC. With his morning show, Scarborough won the slot permanently in July 2007.[60]
Morning Joe is a weekdayMSNBC news and talk show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.Eastern Time. It features Joe Scarborough providing both enterprise reporting and discussion on the news of the day in a panel format with co-hostsMika Brzezinski andWillie Geist. The show features in-depth discussions that help drive the day's political conversation. The initial reviews were positive. TheNew York Times said it was "unlike anything else on morning television"[61] andAmerican Journalism Review said the show "set the agenda for the day's news".[62]
In 2007, New York City mayorMichael Bloomberg joined Geist, Brzezinski, MSNBC presidentPhil Griffin, and Scarborough to cut the ribbon on the new set ofMorning Joe at30 Rock.[63]
The program became a Washington "breakfast staple", showing up on screens at the congressional gym and on government jets.[64] Scarborough has covered presidential elections and conventions.
According toNielsen ratings in 2016,Morning Joe delivered MSNBC's biggest ever total viewer and demo audiences for that time period and beat third-place CNN in both categories. This markedMorning Joe's seventh straight year topping CNN in total viewers.[65] Scarborough also hostsJoe Scarborough Presents a primetime special dedicated to a single topic. The 2023 premiere featured Joe Biden,Bill andHillary Clinton, andTony Blair.[66] He has appeared onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert,The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, andLate Night With Seth Meyers.”[67] He is a regular guest on NBC and MSNBC news programs such asPoliticsNation with Al Sharpton[68] andMeet the Press.[69] Joe also appeared as himself on two episodesofCurb Your Enthusiasm in 2024.[70]
In 2023, Morning Joe was the #1 cable morning show in New York and Washington, DC. Nationally, Morning Joe ranked #2 in all of cable television in its time slot for the 7th straight year. Morning Joe beat CNN in the ratings for the 14th straight year in total audience and in theNielson A25-54 demographic group for the 8th straight year. Compared to the previous year, Morning Joe had double-digit viewership growth among total viewers and adults ages 25–54, whileCNN This Morning andFOX & Friends had double-digit declines.[71] In August 2023,Adweek reported Morning Joe was the most-watched morning cable news program.
In anop-ed forThe Washington Post in August 2016, Scarborough argued that the Republican Party must "dumpDonald Trump" as theirpresidential candidate. Drawing attention to Trump's remarks aboutHillary Clinton and theSecond Amendment, Scarborough wrote: "A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored. At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens."[72]
In June 2017, Scarborough and Brzezinski were the targets oftweets by President Trump that, in response to their coverage ofhis administration, referred to Scarborough as "Psycho Joe" and called Brzezinski "low I.Q. Crazy Mika," while asserting that she was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" when he previously encountered her atMar-a-Lago.[73][74][75] The hosts responded with an op-ed inThe Washington Post, in which they described White House officials telling them that the president would kill a pendingNational Enquirer article if they apologized to Trump for their coverage of him.[76] The president's tweets received criticism from many Republican lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, SenatorsJohn McCain,Susan Collins,Ben Sasse,Lindsey Graham, andLisa Murkowski.[77]
Trump has also aired "wild allegations and fact-free innuendo"[78] stemming from anincident from Scarborough's time in Congress. On July 20, 2001, while Scarborough was inWashington, D.C.,[79][80][81] one of his aides, 28 years old, Lori Bolterstein Klausutis, was found dead on the floor of his congressional office inFort Walton Beach, Florida.[82][83] Anautopsy determined that an undiagnosed heart-valve irregularity had caused the 28-year-old to lose consciousness, fall, and hit her head on the edge of a desk the day before.[82][84][85] Media trafficked in speculation about the death, often connecting it with Scarborough's resignation from Congress, announced in May.[86][87] The claim that Scarborough was involved in the death was promoted by publisherMarkos Moulitsas.[86][88] Since 2017, Trump has resurrected the debunked rumor and has called for another investigation.[83][89][90] TheWall Street Journal,New York Post, andWashington Examiner have condemned Trump's remarks.[91] "It's remarkable that we have a president who is trying to have someone prosecute the person he considers to be his chief critic in the media," Scarborough responded in 2020. "That's whatPutin does. That's whatOrban does. That's what autocrats have been doing for centuries."[79] In May 2020, the aide's widower wrote a letter to Twitter's chief executiveJack Dorsey begging him to delete Trump's tweets saying "President Trump on Tuesday tweeted to his nearly 80 million followers alluding to the repeatedly debunked falsehood that my wife was murdered by her boss, former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough. The son of the president followed and more directly attacked my wife by tweeting to his followers as the means of spreading this vicious lie."Kara Swisher followed up with an op-ed inThe New York Times on May 26, 2020, calling on Twitter to hold Trump to the company's rules.[92] That same day, Twitter began fact-checking Trump's posts and applying warnings to his tweets when they made misleading claims about mail-in voting.[93]
In November 2024, following the2024 United States presidential election, Mika and Joe met withDonald Trump atMar-a-Lago.[94]
In August 2019, Scarborough drew criticism after postingconspiracy-driven tweets about thedeath of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier multimillionaire and convicted sex offender.[95] Scarborough tweeted: "A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men's lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably... Russian."[96]
In January 2021, Scarborough excoriated theCapitol Hill Police for having enabled theattack at the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.[97] He claimed adouble standard that had the perpetrators been either black or Muslim, they likely would have been dealt with more harshly.
Scarborough released his first book,Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day: the Real Deal on how Politicians, Bureaucrats, and other Washington Barbarians are Bankrupting America,[98] on October 4, 2005.
In his second book,The Last Best Hope,[99] released on June 9, 2009, Scarborough outlined a plan to help guide conservatives back to a political majority after their defeats in the2006 midterm elections and the2008 presidential election.
On November 12, 2013, Scarborough released his third book,The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics—and Can Again.[100]
On November 24, 2020, Scarborough released his fourth book,Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization.[101]
Scarborough released his debutEP,Mystified, on June 23, 2017. A video for the title track of thenew wave-inspired EP was also released on the same day.[102] Scarborough said he planned to release a new EP every month for the following four years.[103][104]
Scarborough was named on the 2011TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people. TIME noted his fearless approach to speaking his mind "without fear or favor" and his dedication to placing "country before party" making him an essential voice in American politics.[105]
Alongside Mika Brzezinski, in 2012 Scarborough was named onVanity Fair’s “Top Media Power Players” list.[106]
In 2015, he interviewed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and abruptly ended the interview, but resumed it after the commercial break.[107] Having known Scarborough for years, Trump would often call into the show during his first presidential campaign.[64] It was also reported that during his term as President,Joe Biden called Scarborough often to get the host’s take on issues, asMorning Joe was Biden’s favorite program, and it influenced who he listened to and how the White House was run.[108]
The Monday after theattempted assassination of Trump,MSNBC preemptedMorning Joe for the day, prompting threats from Scarborough to quit if the network took similar action again.The Daily Beast reported that the message of the show was “We're back—and the place to go for powerful Democrats to make their case”[109] because in the days following Biden’s endorsement ofVice PresidentHarris for President, Scarborough and others on the show interviewed VP nominee hopefulsGovernorsRoy Cooper,Andy Beshear andJ.B. Pritzker.The Hollywood Reporter wrote that “at a time when TV news feels like it is fading into irrelevance with the broader public, with a certain group of extremely important and influential viewers (or even one viewer in particular), it appears to be more essential than ever.”[110]
In 2022, Scarborough, Brzezinski, and Willie Geist were namedMediaite’s Most Influential in News Media, withMediaite praising Morning Joe’s “remarkable broadcasting prowess and chemistry.”[111]
In 2023, Mediaite recognized the Morning Joe team as the "clear favorite for liberal viewers and inside-the-Beltway audiences," noting Joe Scarborough's role as the "leading man," delivering daily insights into the political zeitgeist with sharp analysis and energy.[112]
In 2024, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were honored as Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media, celebrated for being among the year’s "biggest stars in all of media." Their show was the most closely tracked program leading up to the presidential election, with viewers recognizing the significant bipartisan influence the hosts wield across the political spectrum.[113]
In 2025, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were ranked No. 2 onMediaite’s list, recognizing their “influence in political circles remains enormous and likely unparalleled.”Mediaite cited the duo’s role in shaping the daily political agenda and their ability to attract senior government officials across administrations as central to the program’s sustained relevance and influence in U.S. political discourse. It also highlighted Scarborough’s often newsworthy monologues, Brzezinski’s incisive interviewing style, and the on-air chemistry of the co-hosts, describing the program as “four hours of top-flight morning television.”[114]
In 1986, Scarborough married Melanie Hinton. The couple had two sons[118] and divorced in 1999. While interviewingRobert F. Kennedy Jr. on June 21, 2005, Scarborough expressed concerns about the possibility that one of his sons may have sufferedvaccine damage (seeThimerosal controversy). Scarborough said, "My son, born in 1991, has a slight form ofautism calledAsperger's. When I was practicing law and also when I was in Congress, parents would constantly come to me, and they would bring me videotapes of their children, and they were all around the age of my son or younger. So, something happened in 1989."[119][120]
In October 2001, Scarborough married his second wife, Susan Waren, a former aide to Florida governorJeb Bush and a former congressional committee staffer. Their daughter was born in August 2003; their son was born in May 2008. Scarborough and Waren were divorced in January 2013.[121]
In early 2017, during a trip toAntibes, France, Scarborough became engaged to his co-hostMika Brzezinski.[122] The couple married on November 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony officiated by U.S. RepresentativeElijah Cummings.[123]
As of 2016[update], Scarborough has residences in bothNew Canaan, Connecticut, an affluentexurb of New York City,[124] andJupiter, Florida.[125]
...and my home town, actually, the place where I was born, Doraville, Georgia.
In 1993 ... Griffin became the first activist to murder an abortion provider, ushering in a new level of terrorism in the abortion wars.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)My son, born in 1991, has a slight form of autism called Asperger's. And it seems—but, again, when I was practicing law and also when I was in Congress, parents would constantly come to me, and they would bring me videotapes of their children, and they were all around the age of my son or younger. [...] So, something happened in 1989.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 1st congressional district 1995–2001 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
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