Congressman Scott Taylor of Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District has come under fire in recent weeks following the release of a pro-amnesty letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, which was signed by Taylor and 33 other Republican Members of Congress. Numbers USA, a nonpartisan anti-amnesty watchdog group, first reported on the letter earlier this month, and in response, Congressman Taylor launched an attack on the group through social media, which according to Big League Politics, culminated in a phone call in which Taylor threatened the ‘blow up’ the offices of the group. Though Taylor has steadfastly denied the threats were made, Big League Politics has stood by their report, claiming they received their information from a source close to Numbers USA. The story of Taylor’s threats has quickly gone national, and on December 27th, the Washington Times published an opinion piece by Judson Phillips calling for a Congressional investigation into the matter.
Taylor, a first-term Republican, was elected during the 2016 wave of Republican victories, which led to the election of President Donald J. Trump, and further cemented Republican control of legislative bodies at both the federal and state levels. Despite being elected to Congress as a conservative, Taylor has routinely promoted and voted in favor of amnesty and spending increases is rumored to serve as leader of Speaker Paul Ryan’s amnesty whip operations and authored a controversial bill which would further dictate the rights of property owners. Of course, Taylor has made a habit of taking to social media to dismiss reports of his support for amnesty and other Democrat endorsed causes, seeming to either forget or flat out dismiss the fact that his Congressional voting history is widely available online through a number of sources.
One of those sources, Conservative Review, offers Taylor’s constituents a quick look at his footloose and fancy-free use of their tax dollars and has given him a rating of a mere 40% under their famed ‘Liberty Score’ metric. Numbers USA, the website previously mentioned in this article, also offers a look at Taylor’s voting history, this time on the subject of immigration. On his ‘Immigration-Reduction Report Card’ Taylor receives a dismal 27% rating, the same score as Senator John McCain, placing him in the bottom 7% of Republican Legislators.
Despite being in office for less than a year, Taylor has already earned a reputation among his base as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), inspiring one of his constituents, conservative activist and former member of the James City County Board of Supervisors Mary Jones, to announce her intent to challenge him for the Republican nomination to Congress in 2018. Politics Elections reached Mrs. Jones for comment on Taylor’s job performance and received a response echoing the concerns of many in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District as she stated; ‘Scott Taylor’s top priority is clearly his passion for giving amnesty to illegals by working to extend DACA. This is yet another example of why people are sick and tired of electing politicians that say one thing, only to get elected and forget about the voters who sent them there.’
Politics Elections reached out to Congressman Taylor’s office and campaign staff directly seeking a response addressing his support for amnesty, votes in favor of higher government spending, and his alleged threats directed towards Numbers USA, but received no comments.
