Republican Texas Rep. Van Taylor is ending his reelection campaign and admitted to having an affair just one day after a primary challenger forced him into a run-off.
“About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world,” Taylor said in a Wednesday statement, reported the Texas Tribune. “I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life. I want to apologize for the pain I have caused with my indiscretion, most of all to my wife Anne and our three daughters.”
Taylor, who has represented Texas’ Third District since 2019, received 48.7% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary. He would have faced former Collin County Judge Keith Self in a run-off. Self is now the presumptive Republican nominee, and will face Democrat Sandeep Srivastava in November’s general election. (RELATED: Henry Cuellar And AOC-Backed Candidate Headed To Runoff In South Texas District)
The district is expected to remain in Republican hands. Taylor defeated a Democratic challenger by 12 points in 2020, and redistricting gave the GOP a 23-point advantage, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Wow. #TX03 becomes the 15th open GOP seat, w/ pro-Trump former Collin Co. Judge Keith Self (R) the virtually certain winner. https://t.co/HDdd0ZXK4c
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) March 2, 2022
Tania Joya, a British woman who married an American-born Islamic State militant, provided text messages to National File the day before the primary purporting to show the affair.
“I want a long slow rim job,” Taylor allegedly said in one text, asking Joya to “deep throat” him.
Joya deleted other text messages from Taylor in exchange for a $5,000 payoff, she told Breitbart News.
Taylor is expected to finish out his second term in office before retiring. He is the 46th member of the House of Representatives to retire or end a run for reelection, and the 15th Republican. He is also the fifth member of Texas’ House delegation to retire, joining fellow Republicans Kevin Brady and Louie Gohmert, and Democrats Filemon Vela and Eddie Bernice Johnson.