Van Taylor
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Nicholas Van Campen Taylor (born August 1, 1972), known as Van Taylor,Texas Birth Index, 1903–1997. is an American businessman and Republican politician from Plano,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. He is the
U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
for
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
's 3rd congressional district, and was first elected in 2018. The district includes much of Collin County, a suburban county north of
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. A veteran of the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, he represented the 8th district in the
Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...
from 2015 to 2019. He also previously served in the
Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...
for the 66th district in southwestern Collin County. On March 2, 2022, Taylor admitted to an extramarital affair and announced that he would suspend his reelection campaign and retire at the end of the 117th Congress.


Early life, education, and career

A seventh-generation Texan, Taylor was born in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. He is a descendant of
Humble Oil Humble Oil and Refining Co. is a defunct American oil company founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas. In 1919, a 50% interest in Humble was acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey which acquired the rest of the company in September 1959. The Humble b ...
co-founder Robert Lee Blaffer. He grew up in Midland, Texas, where he attended the Hillander School and San Jacinto Junior High School. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. With numerous AP credits, he subsequently graduated in three years from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, from which he obtained a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in history. He earned a
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in 2001. From January 2002 to December 2018, Taylor worked for Churchill Capital Company, a
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
and principal investment firm, as a real estate investment banker. He previously worked for
McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...
and
Trammell Crow Company Trammell Crow Company is a real estate development, investment, and property management company. It has been a subsidiary of CBRE Group since 2006. History The company was founded by Trammell Crow Fred Trammell Crow (June 10, 1914 – January 1 ...
. Taylor married Anne Coolidge, a real estate
investment manager Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...
, in 2004.


Military service

In Iraq, Taylor was assigned to the Marine Corps' Company C, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion and fought with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company. As a
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, Taylor led missions in advance of
Task Force Tarawa Task Force Tarawa (TFT) was the name given to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was a Marine Air-Ground Task Force commanded by Brigadier General Richard F. NatonskiNatonski message. that was attached to ...
during
Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, which detected and defeated several
Fedayeen Fedayeen ( ar, فِدائيّين ''fidāʼīyīn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. Etymology The term ''fedayi'' is derived from Arabic: '' ...
ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...
es. He also participated in a casualty evacuation of 31 wounded Marines, transporting them safely to medical treatment. Taylor's military decorations include the
Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
with "V", the
Combat Action Ribbon The Combat Action Ribbon (CAR, ), is a high precedence United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States Marine Corps military decoration awarded to United States sea service members "who have actively participated in ground or sur ...
, and the Presidential Unit Citation. Taylor left the
Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...
as a
major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
.


2006 campaign for U.S. House

In 2005 and 2006, Taylor ran for
Texas's 17th congressional district Texas's 17th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes a strip of Central Texas and Deep East Texas stretching from Nacogdoches to Waco and Round Rock, including former President George W. Bush's McLennan Cou ...
in the
U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
. He won the Republican primary with 54.03% of the vote. With 40.31% of the vote in the general election, he lost to incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards.


Texas House of Representatives


2010 campaign

On December 2, 2009, Taylor announced his candidacy for the District 66 Texas State House seat. Plano city council member Mabrie Jackson had already resigned from the council to enter the House race. On November 30, 2009, incumbent representative Brian McCall announced that he would not run for reelection. Observers speculated that McCall had told Jackson that he would step down so that she could get a head start in the campaign. McCall also endorsed Jackson as his successor. The candidates in the March 2 Republican primary were Wayne Richards, Jackson, and Taylor. While Jackson earned the largest number of votes (41%) in the primary, she was shy of the 50% plus one vote required to win the nomination outright. Richards promptly endorsed Taylor, who then defeated Jackson in the April
run-off election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...
. McCall left the House seat early, and Taylor was sworn into office on April 20, 2010, by Collin County Judge
Keith Self Keith Alan Self (born March 20, 1953) is an American politician and former county judge who is the United States representative for Texas's 3rd congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. Early life and education Self was ...
.


Texas State Senate


2014 campaign

On August 2, 2013, Taylor announced he would seek the Republican Party's 2014 nomination for the Texas Senate,
District 8 District 8 can refer to: *District 8 Jakarta, in Indonesia *District 8 (Ho Chi Minh City), in Vietnam * VIII District, Turku, in Finland * VIII District, Budapest, in Hungary *Riesbach, also known as District 8, in Zürich, Switzerland * District ...
seat held by
Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a th ...
, who was stepping down to run for
state attorney general The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...
.


Political positions

Taylor is considered a major ally of the
Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...
. He was endorsed by the North Texas Tea Party for his 2014 campaign for Texas Senate, District 8. In 2017, Taylor introduced legislation to establish a registry of individuals who have been barred from employment at an educational facility. The measure, if adopted, would prevent any school employee, not just administration and faculty, from working at a school if the person is found to have engaged in an improper relationship with a student.


Juneteenth

Taylor was one of two House Republicans to co-sponsor the
Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...
National Independence Day Act.


Foreign policy

Taylor was among 129 Republicans to oppose President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's
withdrawal Withdrawal means "an act of taking out" and may refer to: * Anchoresis (withdrawal from the world for religious or ethical reasons) * ''Coitus interruptus'' (the withdrawal method) * Drug withdrawal * Social withdrawal * Taking of money from a ban ...
from
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.


U.S. House of Representatives


Elections


2018

In August 2017, Taylor announced his candidacy for the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
for
Texas's 3rd congressional district Texas's 3rd congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in the suburban areas north and northeast of Dallas. It encompasses much of Collin County, including McKinney, as well as parts of Plano and Frisco, and Pro ...
. Incumbent 13-term Republican
Sam Johnson Samuel Robert Johnson (October 11, 1930May 27, 2020) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for in Congress from 1991 to 2019. He was a member of the Republican Party. In October and November 2015, he was the acting ...
had announced his retirement. Taylor was endorsed by the
Club for Growth The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic policy issues. Club for Growth's largest funders are the billionaires Jeff Yass and Richard U ...
, a national conservative group, and With Honor, a cross-partisan political group supporting next-generation military veterans. Taylor secured the nomination after easily winning the March 6 primary. He won the November 6 general election with 54.3% of the vote. Taylor's victory continued a run of Republican control in one of the first areas of Texas to turn Republican. The GOP has held the seat without interruption since a 1968 special election, and Taylor is only the fourth person to represent it since then. At the same time, it was the closest race in the district in over half a century; indeed, it was the first time since the regular 1968 election that a Democrat had crossed the 40% mark.


2020

Taylor was unopposed in the 2020 Republican primary. In the general election, he faced Democrat Lulu Seikaly. Some observers considered him potentially vulnerable due to the district's demographic changes and its high population of college-educated voters, who had been trending away from the GOP in recent years. Taylor was reelected by over 12 percentage points even as President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
carried the district by only 1.


Tenure

On May 19, 2021, Taylor was one of 35 Republicans to join all Democrats in voting for legislation to establish the
January 6 commission The National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex, known colloquially as the January 6 commission, was an unsuccessful proposal to create a commission that would have investigated the January 6 Uni ...
meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol. During his 2022 reelection campaign, this vote became a focal point for conservative critics and his opponents in the Republican primary, despite Taylor's conservative voting record on other issues.


2022 campaign and allegations of infidelity

On February 27, 2022, two days before the Republican primary, right-wing media outlet '' National File'' posted an interview with Tania Joya, a British woman then living in Plano, who said that she and Taylor had a nine-month sexual affair in 2020 and 2021. Joya is the widow of
John Georgelas Yahya al-Bahrumi (born John Thomas Georgelas, also known as Ioannis Georgilakis and used the '' kunya'' Yahya Abu Hassan; December 2, 1983 – October 2017) was an American jihadist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of the Islamic State (ISIL). Havi ...
, an American who gained notoriety for joining the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(commonly known as ISIS) in 2013, and has been dubbed the "ISIS bride" by the British tabloid press. Saying that she and Taylor met during a "reprogramming" session for former
jihadists Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
, Joya shared salacious details about the affair and said that Taylor had given her $5,000 for her credit card bills and personal expenses. Her statements were repeated the next day by ''
Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 b ...
'' and circulated widely on social media. ''
The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternativ ...
'' could not independently verify any of Joya's claims. In a statement to ''
The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'', Joya said that she was "annoyed at having to see her ex-lover's face on billboards" and approached Taylor's Republican primary opponent Suzanne Harp, hoping that Harp would privately persuade Taylor to drop out of the race, but Taylor did not do so, prompting Joya to make her statements public. On March 1, 2022, Taylor won 49% of the vote in the Republican primary, short of the 50% majority required to win outright, triggering a May 24
runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
election against runner-up and former Collin County judge Keith Self. The next day, in an email to supporters, Taylor announced the suspension of his reelection campaign: "About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life. I want to apologize for the pain I have caused with my indiscretion, most of all to my wife Anne and our three daughters." Taylor did not indicate that he would resign from office before the end of his term but a campaign spokesperson said that he would withdraw from the election. Taylor formally withdrew from the runoff two days later, making Self the Republican nominee by default.


Committee assignment

*
Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...


Caucus memberships

* For Country Caucus, Co-Chair * Problem Solvers Caucus *
Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Although the prim ...


Electoral history


References


External links


Congressman Van Taylor
official U.S. House website
Campaign website
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Van 1972 births 21st-century American politicians American Episcopalians American investment bankers United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War Businesspeople from Texas Harvard College alumni Harvard Business School alumni Living people McKinsey & Company people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from Dallas People from Midland, Texas People from Waco, Texas Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Republican Party Texas state senators United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps reservists