Former Congressman Scott Taylor may seek his former office in the November 2020 Election

Earlier this year Republican Ben Loyola announced his intention to enter the race for the Second District Republican nomination for the House of Representatives seat occupied by Democrat Elaine Luria in the November election.

The Richmond Times Dispatch reported Tuesday that former Republican Representative Scott Taylor may abandon his challenge to Senator Mark Warner and run for his old seat. Loyola criticized Taylor for raising over $300,000 to run against Warner and then switching to run for his old seat.

Taylor lost to Luria on the heels of a scandal involving a staffer who was convicted of two charges of election fraud after forging signatures on a petition to get a former challenger Shaun Brown on the ballot in the 2018 election.  Taylor himself was not charged in the case. Luria defeated Taylor in what has been considered a Republican district by a narrow margin. Republicans are hoping Luria’s vote for impeachment could pave the way to return the seat to the GOP.

In the 2016 presidential election year Taylor defeated former Congressman Randy Forbes in the Republican primary and then went on to defeat Brown in the general election receiving 60% of the vote.

Taylor is a former Navy Seal who was born and raised on the Eastern Shore at Mardela, Maryland.

In December of 2017 Taylor met with a group of local mayors with the message that regional projects stand a much better chance of receiving federal funding and that the  towns and counties should work to develop those projects on the Eastern Shore.  The effort planted a seed which resulted in the current attempt to join the Hampton Roads Sanitation District.  Both counties have agreed to petition the court to allow the region to join the HRSD as have many of the local towns.

A primary election that will determine which Republican will face Congresswoman Luria in the November 2020 election is scheduled for June 9, 2020.