California Patriot Profile: Scott Baugh: An Enduring Champion of Faith and Freedom
Former Assembly Republican Leader and Orange County Party Chair Who Proudly Carried the Conservative Banner in Two Competitive Runs for Congress
⏱️ 6-Minute Read
Every week we highlight a different California Patriot — someone who has stood tall for the ideas of liberty and freedom in a state where the governing class is filled with left-wing ideologues that embrace both collectivism and authoritarianism.
A Steadfast Voice for California’s Heart
In California’s brutal political scene—where runaway spending and endless regulations weigh down families from the Capitol to the coast, and special interest groups drive all political and public policy outcomes—Scott Baugh has stood firm as a defender of faith, freedom, and responsibility. A staunch constitutionalist, he has never wavered from first principles — advocating smaller government, personal liberty, and fiscal discipline—grounded in his Christian faith and in the belief that freedom thrives when individuals, not bureaucrats, take responsibility for their own lives.
Baugh entered public life in 1995 under extraordinary circumstances. At the time, he was a young attorney for Union Pacific Railroad when Republican Doris Allen shocked her own party by accepting the Assembly speakership with full support from Democrats. In a conservative district, her decision ignited anger and a recall effort. Party leaders turned to Baugh—a political outsider with integrity and courage—to challenge her. He won the special election and went on to win full terms in 1996 and 1998.
In Sacramento, he rose quickly. Colleagues respected him as someone who would listen, negotiate fairly, and still hold the line on core conservative principles. In 1999, he was elected Assembly Republican Leader. At a time when deal-making and personal gain were routine, he proved you could earn leadership by keeping your word, staying ethical, and standing firm for taxpayers.
Leading with Principle
After term limits ended his service in 2000, Baugh returned to law but never stepped away from the fight. From 2004 to 2015, he led the Republican Party of Orange County, uniting activists, donors, and candidates around a mission: restore integrity, limit government, and elect principled conservatives. Under his leadership, the county party became a national model for winning campaigns and raising resources.
He returned to the arena when it mattered most. In 2022, he ran for Congress in California’s 47th District, a seat that could determine control of the House. Backed by the conservative Club for Growth and later by Republican leaders in Congress, he came within 9,000 votes of victory. In 2024, he ran again—winning the primary with 33% and losing the general by less than 2%. In a state drowning in debt and bureaucracy, his message was simple and clear: government must serve the people, not the insiders.
Roots That Anchor The Fight
To understand why he never wavered, you have to go back to July 4, 1962—America’s birthday—when he was born on a 10-acre farm in Redding, the fourth of five boys. His parents taught him that nothing comes without work. At 16, while others slept in, he was hauling 6,000 pounds of hospital linens to Mercy Hospital before school. On the football field, he earned the nickname “Dr. Death” as a hard-hitting linebacker who always got back up.
Scott paid his way through Liberty University, graduating at the top of his business class while working farm jobs and interning in Washington, D.C. Liberty deepened the values he was raised with: personal duty over dependency, freedom anchored in moral truth, and rights granted by God, not government. He earned his law degree from McGeorge School of Law and began working as an attorney for Union Pacific Railroad.
In 1996, he married Wendy, and together they built their life in Huntington Beach—faithful, grounded, and family-centered. Their son, Jackson, currently serves the Trump administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, carrying forward the same commitment to service and country.
Hands-On Legacy: Crafting Change in Classrooms and Communities
Scott’s legacy didn’t stop in politics. In the early 2000s, he helped found Pacifica Christian High School in Orange County, where faith, first principles, academic, excellence, and parental authority guide education—not Sacramento mandates. He serves on the board of the George T. Pfleger Foundation, helping children in crisis; as a founding board member of Angel Force USA, in leadership service with the Orange County Gang Reduction and Intervention Partnership, and as founding chairman of the OC Marathon Foundation. In every one of these efforts, the pattern is the same: faith first, private action over government control, families over bureaucracies, responsibility over rhetoric.
So, Does It Matter?
Does it matter? Scott Baugh’s life says yes. His story is not about grand speeches or self-promotion—it’s about showing up, honoring your word, and serving others. At a time when California sinks under debt, arrogance, and political theater, Scott stands as proof that principle still counts more than applause.
And for me, this is personal. Scott has been one of my closest friends for 30 years. We’ve shared victories, heartbreaks, faith, and family. My life is better because he’s in it. He’s the kind of friend who tells you the truth, prays with you when life gets hard, and never walks away when things get complicated.
That is why it matters. His legacy continues—through Jackson’s service in Washington, through students in classrooms he helped build, through young people who found a path away from gangs and drugs, through every conservative he has helped win election to office around the country, and through every person who still believes that patriotism means loving this country enough to fight for what’s right.
Real patriotism isn’t loud. It doesn’t need headlines. It’s living every day with faith, courage, and conviction. That is the life Scott Baugh has lived.
A short video of Scott from the campaign trail in 2024, so you can get a sense of the person…
And while it’s not in the profile, Scott lost one of his brothers, and it was the subject of a campaign ad, worth watching.
Check Out Our Library of 22 Other California Patriot Profiles!
Each week, we profile an exemplary California conservative. Previous profiles have been of the late Andrew Breitbart, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, Political Law Attorney Chuck Bell, Congressman Kevin Kiley, talk radio hosts Dennis Prager and John Kobylt, HJTA President Jon Coupal, actors James Woods, Kelsey Grammer, Adam Carolla and Gary Sinise, Thomas Sowell, Pro-Liberty Attorney Julie Hamill, Dr. Charles Kesler, Former CAGOP Chairman Ron Nehring, Federal Judge Roger Benitez, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, Lance Izumi, Victor Davis Hanson, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, the late Second Amendment champion Sam Paredes, and Pastor Rob McCoy of Turning Point Faith. You can go here to see them all! If you have an idea for a patriot to profile, let me know!