GOP leader endorses former congressman who got caught in voter fraud scandal

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy enthusiastically endorsed former GOP Rep. Scott Taylor’s bid to come back to Congress despite the Taylor campaign’s 2018 efforts to engage in voter fraud.

“The Democrats have discredited the House of Representatives with their impeachment, and we need to elect a Republican majority this year to get Congress back on the right course,” McCarthy said in an emailed statement from the Taylor campaign on Monday. “[Rep.] Elaine Luria and her fellow Democrats have failed their constituents, and Scott Taylor will defeat her this year because of it,” McCarthy added.

Luria defeated Taylor by a 51% to 49% margin in 2018.

Before Monday, Taylor previously announced a run for the U.S. Senate, but dropped that bid in order to run for his old House seat.

Taylor lost in 2018 despite efforts by his campaign to cheat to win. Staffers for his campaign engaged in “forgery” and “out and out fraud,” according to a circuit judge in Richmond, Virginia.

In order to peel away support from Luria, Taylor staffers attempted to place a third-party candidate on the ballot. However, an investigation found dozens of signatures on the petition to place that candidate on the ballot were forged.

One of Taylor’s campaign staffers was indicted on two counts of election fraud, and half a dozen staffers refused to say whether or not Taylor ordered them to engage in the fraud.

Taylor denied all knowledge of the scheme.

After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, McCarthy made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in California to explain away Republican losses. He falsely claimed a new California law enabled Democrats to steal votes, which did not happen, and complained that election officials in the state counted all the ballots before declaring a winner of close races.

When it comes to the 2020 election, clear evidence of previous voter fraud schemes by Republican staffers in Virginia did not stop McCarthy from endorsing Taylor.

Taylor, a one-term congressman, made headlines in 2018 when he refused to say why he opposed universal background checks on gun purchases when he was asked shortly after a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, killed more than a dozen students.

In the summer of 2018, Taylor was caught being delinquent on more than $11,000 in property taxes. At the time, his spokesperson claimed the tax bills “slipped his mind.” Taylor then paid the taxes.

A year later, Taylor once again failed to pay taxes on two Virginia properties.

In his campaign announcement, Taylor vowed to “fight for each and every vote.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.