Scott Taylor (politician)

Scott Taylor (2017)

Scott William Taylor (* 27. June 1979 in Baltimore , Maryland ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . From 2017 to 2019, he represented Virginia's 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives . He is running for the United States Senate in 2020 .

Family, education and work

After attending high school in Mardela Springs , Scott Taylor served in the United States Navy from 1998 to 2005 , where he was a member of the United States Navy SEALs special unit . He was used in Central and South America. He was a sniper during the Iraq war . After his military service, he worked in the security industry. He also studied international relations at Harvard University . He became president of the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund (OPSEC). To date he is a gym owner, stockbroker, guest on the Fox News Channel and writer of political articles. He is a member of numerous regional organizations and associations.

Political career

In the 2010 election, he ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives. In 2014 he was elected to the Virginia House of Representatives, which he served until he took office in Congress . In the 2016 election , Taylor was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the second congressional constituency of Virginia against the Democrat Shaun D. Brown , where he succeeded Scott Rigell on January 3, 2017 , who had not run in 2016.

In the 2018 election , Taylor ran for re-election against Democrat Elaine Luria and was considered at risk. His constituency, which mainly includes Virginia Beach and coastal areas in the east of the state and is inhabited by many veterans and military personnel, had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election , but for Democrat Ralph Northam in the 2017 gubernatorial election , so political observers from one ran out of an open election. Popular veteran Taylor raised twice as many donations over the summer as Luria, who had also previously served in the Navy. In early September 2018, it was announced that Taylor's election workers had participated in a signature collection to include Shaun Brown on the main election ballot. Taylor's rival candidate in the 2016 election ran as an independent after her defeat in the 2018 Democratic primary, which reduced Luria's voting potential. Some of the collected signatures were forged, some from the deceased. It is unknown whether Taylor knew about the fakes himself. The Cook Political Report then changed its forecast for the election to completely open. Taylor accused Luria of weakness on immigration issues; it would support an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Luria won the election in November 2018 with 51.1 to 48.9 percent of the vote and replaced Taylor in Congress on January 3, 2019.

In early July 2019, Taylor announced at Fox & Friends that he would run against Democratic mandate holder Mark Warner in the 2020 US Senate election. He said Warner had achieved little in his twelve years in Congress; he also criticized Warner's role as a ranking member of the Intelligence Committee in investigating Russia's influence on the 2016 election campaign .

Web links

• Scott Taylor (politician) in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Biography at Vote Smart
• Scott Taylor at Ballotpedia (English)

supporting documents

1. ^ Gregory M. Schneider: A Republican congressman helped a rival collect signatures to get on the ballot. Some of those signatures were fake. In: The Washington Post , September 4, 2018.
2. ^ David Wasserman: VA-02: Taylor Moves From Lean Republican to Toss Up. In: Cook Political Report , September 6, 2018.
3. ↑ Juliegrace Brufke: The Elaine Luria defeats GOP's Scott Taylor in Virginia. In: The Hill , November 6, 2018.
4. ↑ Election 2018: VA District 02. In: Our Campaigns.
5. ↑ Jacob Pramuk: Former GOP Rep. Scott Taylor wants to challenge Virginia Sen. Mark Warner in 2020. In: NBC News , July 8, 2019.