Married Republican Rep. Van Taylor dropped his bid for reelection Wednesday after apologizing for having a nine-month affair with the so-called ‘ISIS bride.’
‘Today I am announcing I will not continue my campaign to seek reelection to Congres,’ Taylor emailed supporters, according to The Dallas Morning News. ‘About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life.’
Taylor had been headed to a runoff against former Collin County judge Keith Self, when he didn’t hit the plus-50 per cent threshold in Tuesday’s Texas GOP primary, after his nine-month affair with Tania Joya was exposed by conservative news outlets.
Married Republican Rep. Van Taylor dropped his bid for reelection Wednesday after apologizing for having a nine-month affair with the so-called ‘ISIS bride’
Tania Joya was born in London to a Muslim Bangladeshi family and became radicalized at the age of 17, after the September 11 terror attacks
Joya, born in London to a Muslim Bangladeshi family, became radicalized at age 17 after the September 11 terror attacks.
In 2004, she married an American Muslim convert named John Georgelas, who went by Yahya al-Bahrumi.
Georgelas took her and their three children to Syria against her will in 2013.
She says he was the ‘highest-ranking American’ in the Islamic State.
After three weeks, she reported him to U.S. authorities and fled Syria to the United States.
She’s since lived in Plano, Texas – her now ex-husband’s home state – and works to reprogram those who’ve been radicalized.
This work, according to the Morning News, is how she was introduced to Taylor.
‘We were very close,’ she told the Morning News on Monday night.
Their affair lasted from October 2020 to June 2021.
Rep. Van Taylor (right) and his wife Anne (left) on their wedding day. The Republican congressman publicly apologized to his wife and three daughters in a statement to supporters Wednesday as he withdrew from the race
Tania Joya said she met the GOP congressman through the work she does to rehabilitating jihadists in Plano, Texas
Tania Joya’s ex-husband John Georgelas, who was Texas, but traveled to Syria with his wife and three children to fight for the Islamic State. Joya went to Syria with him in 2013, but escaped
A 2018 tweet from Rep. Van Taylor says that his wife Anne sent him a letter every day that he served in Iraq
Tania Joya moved to Plano, Texas after fleeing Syria and her ex-husband who joined ISIS
Joya had reached out to Suzanne Harp, who was running against Taylor and Self in the Republican primary, hoping the rival would privately tell Taylor she knew of the affair – and push him to drop out of the race and resign from Congress.
The Dallas Morning News said Joya was annoyed by seeing her ex-lover’s face on billboards around town.
‘All I wanted was for Suzanne Harp to just say, “Hey, I know your little scandal with Tania Joya. Would you like to resign before we embarrass you?”‘ Joya told the paper. ‘But it didn’t happen like that.’
Instead, Harp sent a supporter to interview Joya, with the story popping up on the National File’s website on Sunday, and Breitbart running an ‘exclusive’ of it on Monday – one day before the election.
Both stories say that Taylor allegedly paid Joya $5,000 in hush money.
Harp called the affair ‘shocking … disturbing and unbecoming of a sitting U.S. Representative’ on election day eve, adding it would be ‘dangerous to have compromised and corrupt representation in Washington.’
Taylor, the incumbent, still received 48.7 per cent of the vote with 95 per cent of precincts reporting Wednesday.
Self got 26.5 per cent and Harp got 20.8 per cent.
He had, however, been leading in early voting, taking 51.8 per cent of the vote share in a five-way race – which suggested the affair coming out right before election day did do some damage.
Taylor also didn’t receive an endorsement from former President Donald Trump as he was one of four Texas Republicans who voted in favor of certifying the 2020 presidential election for President Joe Biden.
‘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 said in the note to supporters. ‘For months, Anne and I have been working to repair the scars left by my actions.’
‘I am unworthy, but eternally thankful for her love and forgiveness,’ the congressman added.
‘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 said Wednesday
Like the congressman, Tania Joya is also a mother of three. She told The Dallas Morning News that she had hoped a political rival would convince her ex-lover to drop out of the race and resign from Congress
