RELEASE: Elaine Luria Campaign Responds to Rep. Taylor’s Deceptive Campaign Tactics

From the Elaine Luria for Congress campaign in VA-02:

VIRGINIA BEACH – Today, Elaine Luria’s campaign for Congress released the following statement in response to Representative Scott Taylor directing his campaign staff to collect petition signatures to get another candidate on the ballot:

“Dirty and deceptive politics like this are exactly why Washington is broken and people are losing faith in their government. Clearly, Scott Taylor is terrified and willing to do anything to avoid going head to head with Commander Luria,” said Kathryn Sorenson, Elaine Luria’s Campaign Manager.

The initial report of Taylor’s staff helping their Independent challenger obtain ballot access was first released by WHRO-FM radio’s Paul Bibeau following a Freedom of Information Act request. When asked if Congressman Taylor was involved, his campaign spokesman replied, “Yep, of course he knew.” Taylor’s campaign team gathered more than 550 of the 1,000 signatures required by Shaun Brown to get on the ballot.

Elaine Luria is the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s Second Congressional District, which includes all of Accomack and Northampton Counties, the cities of Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, as well as portions of Norfolk, Hampton, and York and James City Counties. The district supported Governor Ralph Northam by 4 percentage points last November and is rated as a TOSS-UP race by non-partisan election forecasters at Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball and CNN Politics, making it one of the most likely seats to flip in 2018.