Attica Scott announced a primary challenge to Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) in a video Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The move pits Scott, a progressive community activist and leader in calling for police accountability, against a powerful Kentucky Democrat who is now chairman of the House Budget Committee. If she wins, it would be the first time Kentucky sends a Black lawmaker to Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need transformational change at every level to achieve the economic and racial justice that people deserve,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIn Congress, I will fight to reduce the income gap, pass the Green New Deal and end qualified immunity for police officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott has been at the forefront of the activist response to the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman shot and killed by police officers in Louisville after a botched raid on her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In August, Scott proposed \u201cBreonna\u2019s Law,\u201d which would essentially ban police from using \u201cno-knock\u201d search warrants. Since then, similar laws have spread around the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunities across Louisville have been crying out for justice for a long time, and even with Breonna Taylor\u2019s murder, we are still not seeing results,\u201d Scott said Wednesday. \u201cI believe that justice is an action, and only showing up to listen isn\u2019t enough. It\u2019s time for the inequities that have existed for decades to finally be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott said increasing the representation of Black women in Congress was her motivation to run. Scott beat out a 30-year incumbent to serve as the only Black woman in Kentucky\u2019s state legislature for more than four years \u2014 a title that finally changed just last November, when a second Black woman, state Rep. Pamela Stevenson was elected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a leader who sees the glaring disparities that exist and who has the empathy and life experiences to understand them,\u201d Scott said in her announcement, saying she chose to run because many people in her community, particularly Black women, asked her to.<\/p>\n