Childhood & Early Life
Charles Joseph Scarborough was born on April 9, 1963, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., to Mary Joanna Clark and George Francis Scarborough. His father was a businessman. Scarborough grew up with two siblings.
He was a quarterback at the 'Pensacola Catholic High School' in Florida. He then attended the 'University of Alabama' and graduated with a BA degree in history in 1985. Following this, Scarborough earned his Juris Doctor degree from the 'University of Florida College of Law' in 1990.
While in college, he played the guitar, composed songs, and produced CDs with the band called 'Dixon Mills.' He also contributed to the music album 'Calling on Robert E. Lee.' Additionally, Scarborough worked as a football coach and taught high-school students before making a career in law, politics, and media.
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Career
Scarborough began his law practice in Pensacola in 1991, after joining the ‘Florida Bar.’ One of the most high-profile cases he presided over was the Doctor David Gunn murder case in 1993, in which he represented the convict, Michael F. Griffin. However, he quit the case after defending his client a few times in court. Scarborough then assisted Griffin in his future legal procedures, including choosing another lawyer. He even protected his family from media scrutiny.
In 1993, Scarborough opposed the rise in property taxes in Pensacola, which earned him prominence in the political arena. As a result, the following year, he became the first ‘Republican’ congress representative in 121 years to be elected from Florida's 1st District.
During his tenure, Scarborough served the committees of the ‘Judiciary,’ ‘National Security,’ the ‘Armed Services,’ ‘Government Reform and Oversight,’ ‘Civil Service,’ and ‘Education.’ He was a member of the 'New Federalists,' a small group formed by young ‘Republican’ members of the ‘Congress.’
During the 1994 congressional election campaign, he signed the legislative agenda known as the 'Contract with America.'
Scarborough was re-elected in 1996, while in 1998 and 2000, he ran opposite only write-in candidates.
As a congressman, Scarborough opposed abortion. Back then, he was involved in several anti-abortion campaigns and the 'Unborn Victims of Violence Act.' He also supported the 'Medicare Preservation Act' of 1995.
He supported and sponsored a bill for the withdrawal of the U.S. from the ‘United Nations.’ Scarborough voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton for "high crimes and misdemeanors," which was initiated on October 8, 1998.
He suggested that the 'Corporation for Public Broadcasting' should operate independently and not be financed by the federal government. In 1999, Scarborough started the weekly local newspaper 'The Florida Sun' in Pensacola. It is now known as 'Independent News.'
In May 2001, Scarborough announced his resignation. He was still left with 5 months to complete his fourth term in the ‘Congress.’ Scarborough stated that he had decided to resign so that he could spend more time with his family.
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Following his resignation, Scarborough moved back to his law practice and worked as an environmental lawyer. In 2002, he joined the ‘President's Council’ on the ‘21st Century Workforce.’
Scarborough began his TV career in April 2003, with the ‘MSNBC’ show 'Scarborough Country.' His first book, 'Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day: The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians Are Bankrupting America,' released in October 2005.
In May 2007, he began co-hosting the ‘MSNBC’ program 'Morning Joe' with Mika Brzezinski, taking over the slot of 'Imus in the Morning' permanently in July.
On December 8, 2008, Scarborough and Brzezinski started hosting a late-morning radio show for ‘WABC (770 AM)’ in New York City. After an unbeaten run, Scarborough ended the show on April 26, 2010, only to announce that he was relaunching it with a new format. However, the show never returned.
His second book, 'The Last Best Hope,' released on June 9, 2009. The book featured Scarborough providing a roadmap for the conservatives to regain their political position, which they had lost mainly due to the unsuccessful 2006 mid-term elections and the 2008 presidential election.
'Time 100' enlisted Scarborough as one of the most influential people in the world in 2011. He has been a visiting fellow at the 'Harvard Institute of Politics' of the 'Harvard Kennedy School of Government.'
Scarborough's third book, 'The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics—and Can Again,' was released on November 12, 2013.
On July 11, 2017, Scarborough announced that he had quit the 'Republican Party' and that he would not be representing any political party anymore.
Controversies
During the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, Scarborough criticized the 'Democratic National Committee' for protecting and ensuring her presidential nomination.
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Similarly, he also criticized Donald Trump through an op-ed published in 'The Washington Post' in August 2016. Scarborough reasoned that the ‘Republican Party’ should cancel his presidential nomination.
In 2016, Trump bashed Scarborough on his show 'Morning Joe,' after the latter said that he would not vote for Trump and claimed that a third-party candidate should be nominated. In June that year, Scarborough, Brzezinski, and two other panelists described Trump's remark on a judge of Mexican descent as "completely racist."
Scarborough and his co-host, Brzezinski, covered Trump's administration and projected it negatively. In June 2017, Trump responded through a critical ''tweet,'' targeting both the hosts, and called them names. Several ‘Republican’ lawmakers heavily condemned the ''tweet.''
In August 2019, Scarborough's ''tweet'' about the death of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was also notorious for being a sex offender, was heavily criticized.
Family & Personal Life
Scarborough married Melanie Hinton in 1986. They had two sons, but the couple divorced in 1999.
In October 2001, Scarborough married Susan Waren, a former assistant to Florida governor Jeb Bush. Susan had previously also served the congressional committee. They had a daughter in August 2003 and a son in May 2008. The couple divorced in January 2013.
In early 2017, Scarborough got engaged to his co-host Mika Brzezinski, while they were on a vacation in Antibes, France. The two walked the aisle on November 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
