Rachel Scott

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Senior Congressional Correspondent, ABC News

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Rachel Scott: Biography at a Glance

  • Rachel Scott is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, covering critical moments in U.S. politics across flagship programs like Good Morning AmericaWorld News TonightNightline, and 20/20.
  • Scott was ABC’s lead campaign correspondent for the 2024 presidential election, providing extensive on-the-ground coverage of the Republican primary and former President Donald Trump’s campaign, including exclusive interviews with prominent leaders from both parties.
  • Known for her incisive questioning, Scott has held major world leaders accountable, including Russian President Vladimir Putin on human rights and Donald Trump on issues of race and identity, often driving national headlines.
  • Her impactful reporting on Roe v. Wade was honored with both a Peabody Award and an Emmy, recognizing her work on health and justice issues for Nightline’s The Appointment and IMPACT x Nightline’s On The Brink.
  • Scott began her Capitol Hill tenure on January 6, 2021, covering the Capitol insurrection live, followed by comprehensive reporting on Trump’s second impeachment trial and the longest House Speaker battle since the Civil War.
  • With numerous prestigious awards, including an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia award, Peabody, Emmy, Edward R. Murrow awards, and Forbes 30 under 30, Scott is celebrated as one of broadcast journalism’s most influential emerging voices.

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Biography

Rachel Scott is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, reporting from Capitol Hill across all programs and platforms, including Good Morning America, World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, 20/20, ABC News Live, ABC News Digital, and ABC Audio.

Scott also serves as the network's lead campaign correspondent. She crisscrossed the country, reporting throughout the Republican primary, and now, she extensively covers the campaign of former President Donald Trump. Scott has covered every moment of an unprecedented campaign cycle: she reported live on the ground from Butler, Pennsylvania moments after the attempted assassination on Trump, she anchored the network's live coverage of President Biden dropping out of the race, and she was one of few reporters inside the federal courtroom when Trump made his first appearance as a criminal defendant.

Scott has conducted several exclusive interviews with leaders from both parties, including Donald Trump and two sitting vice presidents, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. Her questioning of political and world leaders has driven the news cycle. At the National Association of Black Journalists conference in the final weeks of the campaign, her question to Trump about whether he believes Vice President Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a black woman drew headlines after Trump questioned Harris' racial identity. 

Scott was also part of the international press pool traveling with President Biden for his first official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Scott pressed Putin on human rights abuses, stating, "The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed is long … So my question is, Mr. President, what are you afraid of?" She followed up when he did not answer her question: "You didn't answer my question, sir…If all of your political opponents are dead, in prison, or poisoned, doesn't that send a message that you don't want a fair political fight?"

Her reporting on the far-reaching impacts of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was recognized by the esteemed Peabody Awards program twice in two years – selected as a winner in 2021 for Nightline's The Appointment and as a finalist in 2023 for Impact x Nightline's On the Brink with anchor Diane Sawyer. Her reporting with Sawyer for On the Brink was recognized with the 2024 Emmy Award for Outstanding Health and Medical Coverage.

Scott's first day covering Capitol Hill as the incoming congressional correspondent was Jan. 6, 2021. From the moment rioters stormed the Capitol, Scott provided extensive live reports as the insurrection unfolded. In the following weeks, she led the network's coverage of former President Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial. She has also been front and center of coverage on several major stories, including covering the longest battle for House Speaker since the Civil War, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, negotiations over the 2021 historic bipartisan infrastructure package, and the 2022 passage of the most significant gun safety legislation in decades.

Before covering Capitol Hill, Scott was a White House correspondent and a Washington, D.C., correspondent. In 2020, she provided extensive, on-the-ground coverage of the nationwide protests over police brutality and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on communities of color. Additionally, on the presidential campaign trail in 2020, she traveled thousands of miles touring the country to cover both the Democratic Party primary and the Trump campaign, often in the same week.

Scott's reporting has been featured on several ABC News primetime specials. She has been recognized with several additional prestigious honors in journalism, including an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University award, a Peabody, and multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards.

Scott received the inaugural Emmy Award for the Emerging Journalist category. She has also been recognized as the 2024 Washingtonian's Outstanding Journalist in Broadcast Television. Scott was named the NABJ Emerging Journalist of the Year in 2020 and listed on Forbes’ "30 under 30" list that same year. She has received awards from the New York Press Club Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Institute for Health Care Management’s Television Award. She recently received the RTCA Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for her Congressional coverage and the WABJ Young Journalist of Excellence Award.

Her career began at ABC News as a production associate for ABC News Live in 2016. While working full-time as a producer for GMA Digital, Scott took on an additional role as a weekend general assignment reporter for WTNH-TV, ABC News’ New Haven, Connecticut, affiliate. Scott is a native of Southern California and a graduate of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

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