Scott Cepicky (born July 29, 1966) is an American politician and former athlete who serves in the
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Constitutional requirements
According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
, representing the 64th district. Cepicky is a member of the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
1989 NFL Draft
The 1989 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marq ...
, where he went undrafted. Cepicky, a punter, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
, who cut him during the preseason. He was later picked up by the Minnesota Vikings, where he was also cut before the end of preseason. Moving on from football, Cepicky was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 23rd round of the
1989 Major League Baseball draft
First-round selections
The following are the first round picks in the 1989 Major League Baseball draft on June 5.
Supplemental first round selections
Other notable players
* Brian Hunter, 2nd round, 35th overall by the Houston Astros
* Ti ...
. He played Minor League Baseball for five teams from 1989 to 1994.
After the end of Cepicky's athletic career, he became a cattle rancher. He also worked as a salesman in the automotive industry.
Political career
Before he ran for office, Cepicky was active in Maury County politics, serving as chair of the county Republican Party and the county Board of Commissioners. Cepicky first ran for office in 2018, seeking to replace
Sheila Butt
Sheila Keckler Butt (born November 20, 1951) is an American politician from Columbia, Tennessee, currently serving as the Mayor of Maury County. Cepicky won a partisan primary against Michael Fulbright, a local realtor, with 53% of the vote. Cepicky advanced to face local photographer AJ Holmes in the general election, winning with 63% of the vote. Cepicky ran unopposed in his primary for the 2020 election, and won against challenger James Campbell with 71% of the vote.
Cepicky is a member of the Insurance & Banking and Education Committees of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cepicky opposed efforts by the Tennessee health department to advertise COVID-19 vaccinations for teenagers. Cepicky proposed that the Tennessee health department should be dissolved if it did not refuse to "peer pressure" teenagers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Following a mid-June hearing where Cepicky and other conservative lawmakers criticized the Tennessee health department for outreach to teenagers regarding vaccinations, the department stopped its outreach.
In 2020, Cepicky introduced legislation that banned transgender boys and men from playing male sports.
During a special session of the legislature in October 2021, Cepicky co-sponsored controversial legislation allowing partisan school board elections statewide. The initial legislation would have required all school board elections statewide to be partisan, but was trimmed to allow local parties to call for partisan school board elections after some GOP opposition. The legislation still had the result of making most school board elections statewide partisan, however. This act was strongly believed to be an attempt to reduce the ability of Democrats and people with Democrat-leaning views to win election to school boards throughout the state, and to have been motivated by GOP opposition to
critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...
, mask mandates, and a perception of increasing liberalization of education throughout the country. The legislation was opposed by the Tennessee School Board Association and many school districts throughout the state.
In 2023, Cepicky supported a resolution to expel three
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
lawmakers from the legislature for violating decorum rules. The expulsion was widely characterized as unprecedented. During a subsequent meeting the next week with the Republican caucus, Cepicky was recorded stating that "You gotta do what's right even when you think it might be wrong," in response to Jody Barrett's reasoning for changing his vote. He also stated, "If you arrettdon't believe we're at war for our republic... you need a different job. The left wants Tennessee so bad because if they get us the southeast falls. And it's game over for our republic."
Personal life
Cepicky is married to Teresa Cepicky, and the couple have two children. He is a mortgage banker and also coaches football and baseball at Spring Hill High School in Columbia, Tennessee.