VA-02: Signature fraud scandal could cost this Virginia Republican another House race
Freshman Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria's new commercial goes after Republican Scott Taylor over the ongoing investigation into his 2018 campaign's signature-gathering scandal. A woman named Bet Cake tells the audience that the last place she thought she'd see her husband's signature "was forged on election forms two months after his death." Cake continues, "Scott Taylor knew about these signature efforts. A judge called it 'out and out fraud.'" She concludes, "I call it hurtful, Mr. Taylor. And disqualifying."
Back in 2018, when Taylor was the incumbent, his staff was exposed forging signatures on behalf of Democrat-turned-independent Shaun Brown, who was later booted off the ballot by a judge. Taylor's campaign acknowledged that August that the congressman knew of his team's plans to aid Brown, but Taylor insisted he hadn't known anything illegal was happening. He even dismissed the entire matter as a "nothing burger" and defended his staffers' involvement in helping Brown with the least sincere of declarations: "That's democracy."
Democrats, though, ran ad after ad slamming Taylor's campaign for its illegal scheming. Luria ended up flipping this swingy Virginia Beach-based seat by unseating Taylor 51-49: Now that's democracy.
Taylor tried to strike a contrite note when he announced in January that he'd try to regain this seat, saying, "I was devastated to learn about wrongdoing on the team. But in the end, I'm responsible for it, and I think some voters held me accountable for it."
But if Taylor thought this would put the matter behind him, he was very wrong: In March, a former Taylor staffer pleaded guilty for her part in the scheme, and Special Prosecutor John Beamer added we were "likely to see more" indictments to come. A second former Taylor staffer was charged two weeks later, and she's set to go on trial in September for election fraud.
Five more months passed with little news, but Taylor himself helped put the scandal back in the headlines in August when he sent a cease-and-desist letter to Luria demanding that she stop making statements claiming that he is under investigation for ballot access fraud. When the local ABC affiliate 13News Now asked Beamer if Taylor wasn't under investigation, though, he responded, "No, that's not true. The entire campaign is under investigation." Beamer added that more indictments were also possible.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/1/1973932/-Morning-Digest-Signature-fraud-scandal-could-cost-this-Virginia-Republican-another-House-race
