Van Taylor

Nicolas Van Campen Taylor
U.S. Representative for Texas District 3
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Sam Johnson
Texas State Senator for District 8 (Plano)
In office January 13, 2015 – January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Ken Paxton
Succeeded by	Angela Paxton
Texas State Representative for District 66
In office April 20, 2018 – January 13, 2015
Preceded by	Brian McCall
Succeeded by	Matt Shaheen
Born	August 1, 1972 Dallas, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Anne Taylor (married 2002)
Residence	Plano, Texas
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Businessman Major in United States Marine Corps Reserve and veteran of the Iraq War
Religion	Episcopalian
Military Service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	Iraq War

Nicholas Van Campen Taylor, known as Van Taylor (born August 1, 1972), is a RINO congressman representing the Texas 3rd congressional district, who was one of the few Republicans who voted for Nancy Pelosi's 1/6 Select Committee to engage in a witch-hunt against Trump, his family, and his supporters. Van Taylor is opposed by many conservative groups for reelection, including the leader of US Inventor (for refusing to support small inventors' patent rights) and vaccine choice groups (for refusing to oppose mandates). His district, which is north of Dallas, is more conservative than he is and was made even more conservative by the redistricting in 2022.

Since 2015, Taylor has been a state senator in the heavily Republican District 8. He succeeded Sam Johnson, the retiring Republican congressman, on January 3, 2019. In the November 6, 2018, general election, Van Taylor defeated the Democrat Lorie Burch, 168,775 (54.3 percent) to 137,547 (44.2 percent). He resides in Plano in Collin County

From 2011 to 2015, Taylor represented District 66 in the Texas House of Representatives.

Background

Taylor was born in Dallas, Texas, to attorney Nicholas Cowenhoven Taylor and the former Catherine Hepburn Blaffer, the granddaughter of a wealthy industrialist in Humble, near Houston, Texas; the couple divorced in 1999. After graduating from St. Paul's School, a preparatory school in Concord, New Hampshire, Van Taylor graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a degree in history. He then joined the USMC, completed infantry and intelligence training, and served as a reconnaissance platoon leader and an intelligence officer. After his four-year active duty tour ended, Taylor joined the Marine Corps Reserves. He returned to Harvard and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School; he then worked for McKinsey and Company and the Trammell Crow Company in Dallas until he volunteered for active duty service as a United States Marine Corps platoon leader in Iraq.

Career

Taylor served with the Marine Corps' C Company, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion and fought with the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company. As a captain, he led missions behind enemy lines for the 4500 Marine Task Force Tarawa, including the leadership of the task force's first platoon to enter Iraq before the start of the main invasion. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Taylor's platoon encountered, and defeated, several Fedayeen ambushes, participated in the operation to rescue U.S. prisoner of war Private First Class Jessica Lynch and rescued thirty-one wounded men under fire during a counterattack by several thousand Iraqi soldiers. His military decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal with "V" for Valor, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Presidential Unit Citation. Taylor is a major in the Marine Corps Reserves.

In 2006, Taylor unsuccessfully challenged Democrat Thomas Chester "Chet" Edwards, a Texas A&M University graduate, for Texas' 17th congressional district seat. Edwards was subsequently unseated in 2010 by the Republican Bill Flores. The seat is how held by Republican Pete Sessions, son of the former FBI Director William Sessions.

Angela Paxton, wife and political advisor of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is the Republican state senator for District 8. She succeeded Taylor in January 2019. She defeated the Democrat Mark Phariss in the same election in which Taylor defeated Burch and Ken Paxton won a second term as attorney general.

In July 2020, Taylor voted to remove Civil War-era statues.

He was one of thirty-five Republicans to vote for the Partisan Hack resolution calling for an Investigation on Capital Hill.

Taylor faces opposition for re-nomination from Suzanne Cassimatis Harp of Allen, Texas, in the March 1 House primary election. She is running as a conservative MAGA candidate.

External links

• Campaign Website
• House Website
• Profile at Ballotpedia