Virginia Republicans Nominate Scott Taylor While He’s Still Under Criminal Investigation 

From the Democratic Party of Virginia:

Virginia Republicans nominate Scott Taylor while he’s still under criminal investigation 

RICHMOND, VA — Former Representative Scott Taylor, who was fired by his constituents in 2018, won the Republican nomination tonight in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional district. Taylor, known for his hyper-partisan voting record and role in an election fraud scheme his campaign perpetrated, is in a remarkably weak position heading into November’s election.

Taylor is still under criminal investigation for his campaign’s scheme of submitting fraudulent signatures – including some of dead people – to get an independent candidate on the ballot. Two of Taylor’s former staffers were indicted earlier this year. One has already pleaded guilty and Roanoke Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Beamer has said the investigation is still ongoing.

In 2018 voters held Taylor accountable for his far-right positions, and this year they’re not going to forget his disastrous record that has put Virginians at risk:

• Taylor has bragged about his vote for the AHCA, which would have taken health care away from over 45,000 residents of VA-2
• He’s proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security, vital earned benefits that over 100,000 people in VA-2 need to survive.
• Taylor voted for the disastrous Trump tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and big corporations while adding $1.9 trillion to the national debt.
• Since leaving office Taylor has defended Donald Trump at every turn, even as the President has botched the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to tens of thousands of preventable deaths and a spike in unemployment worse than the Great Depression.

Taylor’s campaign has also been struggling to raise money and stay afloat. Recent campaign finance reports show Taylor spent nearly twice what he raised in the past two months and has just $261,000 on hand, roughly a tenth of what Representative Elaine Luria has in the bank.

“Since his constituents fired him in 2018, Scott Taylor has spent his time bragging about his vote to take health care away from his constituents, launching a failed campaign for Senate, and hoping that he doesn’t end up going to jail for election fraud. Struggling to raise money, his campaign has been reduced to a series of Facebook Live videos. If Scott Taylor can’t even stay on the right side of the law, why would voters trust him to go to Congress?” said DPVA Communications Director Grant Fox.