In 1986, Scarborough married Melanie Hinton. The couple had two sons[79] and divorced in 1999.
In October 2001, Scarborough married his second wife, Susan Waren, a former aide to Florida governor Jeb Bush and also a former congressional committee staffer. Their daughter was born in August 2003; their son was born in May 2008. Scarborough and Waren were divorced in January 2013.[81]
As of 2016, Scarborough resides in New Canaan, Connecticut, an affluent exurb of New York City.[82]
In early 2017, during a trip to Antibes, France, he became engaged to his co-host Mika Brzezinski.[83] The couple married on November 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony officiated by late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings.[84]
In June 2000, during his congressional career, he received a 95 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.[16] He signed the Contract with America. Scarborough served on the Armed Services, Judiciary, Government Reform, and Education committees. In 1998 he was named chairman of the Civil Service Committee.[17]
Scarborough was one of a group of about 40 freshmen Republican legislators who dubbed themselves the “New Federalists” after The Federalist Papers. Scarborough was elected political director of the incoming legislators. The New Federalists called for sweeping cuts in the U.S. government, including plans to “privatize, localize, consolidate, [or] eliminate”[18] the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development. House speaker Newt Gingrich tapped Scarborough to head a Republican task force on education, and Scarborough declared, “Our goal is to get as much money, power, and authority out of Washington and get as much money, power, and authority into the classroom as possible.”[6] Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), then chairman of the House Budget Committee, adopted Scarborough’s language eliminating the federal Department of Education in the 1996 House Budget Resolution.[19] The budget passed the House by a vote of 238–193.[20]
Scarborough supported a number of anti-abortion positions while in Congress.[21] He voted in favor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, that made it a crime to harm a fetus during the commission of other crimes.[22]
Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations after a four-year transition[18] and voted to make the Corporation for Public Broadcasting self-sufficient[23] by eliminating federal funding. He also voted for the “Medicare Preservation act of 1995,”[24] which cut the projected growth of Medicare by $270 billion over ten years, and against the “Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996,”[25] which raised the minimum wage to $5.15. Scarborough had a conservative voting record on economic, social, and foreign policy issues but was seen as moderate on environmental issues and human rights causes, including supporting the closure of the School of the Americas and defending accused terrorist Lori Berenson.[6][26]
While in Congress, Scarborough received a number of awards, including the “Friend of the Taxpayer Award” from Americans for Tax Reform; the “Guardian of Small Business Award” from the National Federation of Independent Business; the “Spirit of Enterprise Award” from the United States Chamber of Commerce; the “Taxpayer’s Hero Award” from the Citizens Against Government Waste; and the “Guardian of Seniors’ Rights Award” from the 60 Plus Association.[citation needed]
Scarborough was one of the 228 members of the House who voted to impeach Bill Clinton in December 1998.