In recent weeks Senator Thad Cochran’s campaign released an ad highlighting the voting record of state Senator Chris McDaniel. McDaniel, a Republican, was noted as voting in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2003 and not voting in the 2004 presidential general election or the 2008 Republican presidential primary.
The narrator in the ad asks, “If Chris McDaniel doesn’t vote, why should we vote for him?”
Republican voters in the 4th Congressional District may want to ask a similar question of Gene Taylor.
According to Hancock County voting records going back fifteen years, former Democratic Congressman, turned Republican challenger Gene Taylor has never voted in a Republican primary.
In fact, Taylor most recently voted in the municipal Democratic primary in Bay St. Louis in May 2013, just nine months before he qualified as a Republican candidate for the 4th District seat.
When exactly within that nine months Taylor had a revelation as to his Democratic party leaving him, as he has repeatedly said, has not been revealed. YP emailed the campaign early on attempting to ascertain his ideological considerations that led him to his decision but no reply was sent.
Taylor made waves in 2010 when he said he had voted for Republican nominee Senator John McCain for president in 2008’s general election over his party’s nominee, Democrat Senator Barack Obama.
However, Taylor did vote in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary earlier that same year. It makes you wonder for whom he cast his ballot – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, or one of the others.
The sincerity of Taylor’s party switch continues to be questioned, and rightfully so; it smells of political expediency with little hint of conviction especially given his recent voting record.
The question should be asked: If Gene Taylor routinely votes for Democrats, why should Republicans vote for him?
Magnolia Tribune
