Gene Taylor
Encyclopedia
Gary Eugene "Gene" Taylor (born September 17, 1953) is the former U.S. Representative
for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He was defeated for re-election in 2010 by State Rep.
Steven Palazzo
, who gained 52% of the vote compared to Taylor's 47%. He left office in January 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party
. The district, numbered as the 5th District from 1989 to 2003, takes in most of Mississippi's share of the Gulf Coast
and includes Biloxi
, Gulfport
, Pascagoula
, Laurel
Picayune
and Hattiesburg
.
where he majored in political science and history. He completed additional post-graduate work in business and economics at the University of Southern Mississippi from 1978 through 1980.
Taylor worked as a sales representative for Stone Container Corporation, working a territory from New Orleans to the Florida
panhandle
, from 1977 through 1989.
From 1971 through 1984, Taylor was a member of the United States Coast Guard
Reserve, commanding a search and rescue boat and earning several commendations.
filed a lawsuit
challenging the Senate powers of Democratic Lt. Governor Brad Dye
. Taylor and Hale claimed that Dye's control of committee appointments violated the state constitution's separation of powers
. The Supreme Court of Mississippi
sided with Dye, but the suit against a powerful leader from his own party helped establish Taylor's reputation for political independence.
health insurance to members of the National Guard and Reserves. Taylor also has focused on U.S. policy in Latin America
, sponsoring the successful cap on the number of U.S. troops that can be sent to Colombia
without explicit Congressional authorization. Taylor also was a leading critic of the Base Realignment and Closure
process, accusing the Department of Defense
of smuggling in policy changes that were unrelated to excess capacity or facilities. Taylor served as the Ranking Democrat on the Projection Forces Subcommittee in the 109th Congress, and became chairman of the renamed Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces in the 110th Congress. He and the previous subcommittee chairman Roscoe Bartlett
(R-MD
), who is now the ranking member of the subcommittee, advocate for more nuclear-powered
surface ships in order to reduce the Navy's dependence on imported oil. Taylor is also a member of the Readiness subcommittee of the Armed Services committee in the 110th Congress.
Taylor has been a staunch advocate of maintaining the "Buy American" requirements in Defense contracting, and of maintaining the Jones Act requirements that vessels operating between U.S. ports must be American-flagged, American-made, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens. In February 2007, he was one of two Democrats to oppose H CON RES 63, which expressed opposition to a troop surge
in the Iraq War.
Taylor was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, which is not surprising given the nature of his district. Although local offices are split between the two parties, the district has turned almost solidly Republican at the federal level. The 4th has not supported the official Democratic presidential
candidate since 1956
(when the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson). During Taylor's final term, it was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democrat, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index
of R+20. In the last three elections, it has given the Republican presidential candidate his best total in the state. The Christian Coalition gave Taylor a overall rating of 76% and has endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment.
He voted for all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton
in 1998—the only Democrat in Congress to do so. He was one of just five Democrats to support at least one article of impeachment. He refused to endorse Clinton's reelection bid in 1996, but refused to switch parties despite numerous overtures from the Republicans. In the 2004 Democratic primaries, Taylor endorsed Wesley Clark
. He voted for John McCain
in 2008.
Taylor was a strong critic of the Bush Administration
's fiscal policy
. He voted against the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, claiming that the cuts contained in those bills would only increase the national debt. He derided the prescription drug plan passed in 2003 as a giveaway to companies that donate to the Republican Party. He is one of the House's most vehement opponents of free trade agreements and was strongly opposed to the Bush administration's proposals for reforming Social Security
. He has also voted at times with more liberal
members of the House with regards to Cuba
. Since coming to the House, he has voted in favor of most campaign finance
laws and other laws favored by more progressive
elements of the Democratic Party to reform politics.
Taylor was a staunch and consistent opponent of most free trade agreements. He voted against NAFTA and GATT. He voted against fast-track authority in 1998 and 2002. He also opposed Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China
in 2000.
Taylor has a mixed voting record on environmental issues; he has voted repeatedly against the ban on drilling
in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), while voting at other times with the mainstream of his party. He has also denounced Vice President
Dick Cheney
's ties to Halliburton
.
In House Armed Services Committee hearings, Taylor was sharply critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
and other administration witnesses, particularly regarding shortages of armor for troops and vehicles in Iraq
. He decried the lack of urgency to speed up production and procurement of armored vehicles and of jammers to block the signals of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
According to a 2011 survey by the National Journal
, Taylor was the most conservative Democrat in the House.
Much of Taylor's district took a direct hit from the storm, which destroyed his home in Bay St. Louis (27 miles west of Biloxi) as well as Lott's home in Pascagoula. He has since moved to Kiln
while he rebuilds his home in Bay St. Louis.
When former Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) director Michael D. Brown
appeared before the committee, Taylor reacted angrily to Brown's attempts to put primary responsibility for the failed response at the state and local level. Taylor seemed particularly upset that several first responders in Hancock County
, his home county, were forced to loot a Wal-Mart
to get food and supplies. They also had to wait several days after the storm before they got any help from FEMA workers. He told Brown that FEMA "fell on (its) face" in its response to Katrina, which he said rated "an F-minus in my book."
incumbent Trent Lott
in Mississippi's 5th District when Lott made a successful run for the Senate
. He lost to Harrison County
sheriff
Larkin I. Smith
by almost 10 points. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
offered very little help to Taylor, believing the district to be too heavily Republican. Vice President George H. W. Bush
beat Michael Dukakis
by approximately a 70 to 30 margin in the district, and Lott beat Wayne Dowdy
by a similar margin in the Senate race. Although about 30,000 Bush and Lott voters split their tickets to vote for Taylor, he could not overcome the Republican tide in the district.
and Democrat Mike Moore
in the first round. Some leading Democrats had tried to convince Taylor to stand aside and not seek the position in deference to Moore, who was the state's Attorney General and who was also a Gulf Coast resident, but Taylor doubled Moore's vote total on the first ballot. Two weeks later, Taylor beat Anderson, Lott's Chief of Staff, with 65 percent of the vote. Taylor took office on October 24, 1989.
cost Mississippi a congressional seat.
on November 2, 2010. His vote against Barack Obama
for president in 2008 became a campaign issue when Taylor released campaign ads pointing to his support of McCain as evidence of his bipartisanship. However, Palazzo attacked Taylor for supporting Pelosi as Speaker and claimed Taylor voted with his party's leadership 82 percent of the time. Taylor was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee
.
In the following lame duck session of Congress, Taylor dropped his opposition to the Navy's plan to buy both classes of Littoral combat ship
, even though this greatly reduced the chances that a shipyard in his former district would then be able to bid for follow on contracts.
.
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He was defeated for re-election in 2010 by State Rep.
Mississippi House of Representatives
The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi....
Steven Palazzo
Steven Palazzo
Steven McCarty Palazzo is the U.S. Representative for . The district takes in most of Mississippi's share of the Gulf Coast and includes Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Laurel and Hattiesburg. He is a member of the Republican Party. He defeated 10-term Democratic incumbent Gene Taylor with 52% to...
, who gained 52% of the vote compared to Taylor's 47%. He left office in January 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. The district, numbered as the 5th District from 1989 to 2003, takes in most of Mississippi's share of the Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast of the United States
The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...
and includes Biloxi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
, Gulfport
Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the second largest city in Mississippi after the state capital Jackson. It is the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. As of the...
, Pascagoula
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
, Laurel
Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel is a city located in Jones County in Mississippi, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,393 although a significant population increase has been reported following Hurricane Katrina. Located in southeast Mississippi, southeast of...
Picayune
Picayune
A picayune was a Spanish coin, worth half a real. Its name derives from the French picaillon, which is itself from the Provençal picaioun, meaning "small coin." By extension, picayune can mean "trivial" or "of little value."...
and Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
.
Early life, education and career
Taylor was born in New Orleans and is a 1974 graduate of Tulane UniversityTulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
where he majored in political science and history. He completed additional post-graduate work in business and economics at the University of Southern Mississippi from 1978 through 1980.
Taylor worked as a sales representative for Stone Container Corporation, working a territory from New Orleans to the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
, from 1977 through 1989.
From 1971 through 1984, Taylor was a member of the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
Reserve, commanding a search and rescue boat and earning several commendations.
Early political career
Taylor was elected to the Bay St. Louis City Council in 1981, and then to a vacant seat in the Mississippi State Senate in 1983. As a State Senator, Taylor and fellow Senator Steven HaleSteven Hale
Steven Hale is a British orienteering competitor.He received a silver medal in relay at the 1993 World Orienteering Championships in West Point, together with Martin Bagness, Stephen Palmer and Jonathan Musgrave, only 15 seconds behind the Finnish winning team...
filed a lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
challenging the Senate powers of Democratic Lt. Governor Brad Dye
Brad Dye
Brad Dye is a retired American politician who served three 4-year terms as 27th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 1992. He was a member of the Democratic Party.Dye was born in Charleston, Mississippi....
. Taylor and Hale claimed that Dye's control of committee appointments violated the state constitution's separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
. The Supreme Court of Mississippi
Supreme Court of Mississippi
The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was created in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817. Initially it was known as the "High Court of Errors and Appeals." The Court is an appellate court, as...
sided with Dye, but the suit against a powerful leader from his own party helped establish Taylor's reputation for political independence.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Armed ServicesUnited States House Committee on Armed Servicesthumb|United States House Committee on Armed Services emblemThe U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives...
- Subcommittee on ReadinessUnited States House Armed Services Subcommittee on ReadinessHouse Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness is a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee in the United States House of Representatives.-Jurisdiction:The Readiness Subcommittee exercises oversight and legislative jurisdiction over:...
- Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Readiness
- Committee on Transportation and InfrastructureUnited States House Committee on Transportation and InfrastructureThe U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. John Mica currently chairs the committee.-History:...
- Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime TransportationUnited States House Transportation Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime TransportationThe Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over maritime safety, security, law enforcement, and defense. Additionally, the Subcommittee exercises jurisdiction over...
- Subcommittee on Water Resources and EnvironmentUnited States House Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and EnvironmentThe Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over water conservation, pollution control, infrastructure, and hazardous waste cleanup, the civil works programs of the U.S. Army...
- Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Caucus memberships
- Co-chair of the Coast Guard Caucus
- Co-chair of the National Guard and Reserve Caucus
- Co-chair of the Shipbuilding Caucus
Tenure
Taylor was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, and his voting record was one of the most conservative among Democrats in the House. He has become a leading Democratic Member of the House Armed Services Committee. He led committee and floor fights to improve the medical benefits of military retirees, and to extend TRICARETRICARE
TRICARE, formerly known as the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services , is a health care program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System. TRICARE provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents,...
health insurance to members of the National Guard and Reserves. Taylor also has focused on U.S. policy in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, sponsoring the successful cap on the number of U.S. troops that can be sent to Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
without explicit Congressional authorization. Taylor also was a leading critic of the Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense and Congress to close excess military installations and realign the total asset inventory to reduce...
process, accusing the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
of smuggling in policy changes that were unrelated to excess capacity or facilities. Taylor served as the Ranking Democrat on the Projection Forces Subcommittee in the 109th Congress, and became chairman of the renamed Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces in the 110th Congress. He and the previous subcommittee chairman Roscoe Bartlett
Roscoe Bartlett
Roscoe Gardner Bartlett, Ph.D. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
(R-MD
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
), who is now the ranking member of the subcommittee, advocate for more nuclear-powered
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
surface ships in order to reduce the Navy's dependence on imported oil. Taylor is also a member of the Readiness subcommittee of the Armed Services committee in the 110th Congress.
Taylor has been a staunch advocate of maintaining the "Buy American" requirements in Defense contracting, and of maintaining the Jones Act requirements that vessels operating between U.S. ports must be American-flagged, American-made, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens. In February 2007, he was one of two Democrats to oppose H CON RES 63, which expressed opposition to a troop surge
Iraq War troop surge of 2007
In the context of the Iraq War, the surge refers to United States President George W. Bush's 2007 increase in the number of American troops in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province....
in the Iraq War.
Taylor was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, which is not surprising given the nature of his district. Although local offices are split between the two parties, the district has turned almost solidly Republican at the federal level. The 4th has not supported the official Democratic presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate since 1956
United States presidential election, 1956
The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.Incumbent President Eisenhower...
(when the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson). During Taylor's final term, it was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democrat, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of R+20. In the last three elections, it has given the Republican presidential candidate his best total in the state. The Christian Coalition gave Taylor a overall rating of 76% and has endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment.
He voted for all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
in 1998—the only Democrat in Congress to do so. He was one of just five Democrats to support at least one article of impeachment. He refused to endorse Clinton's reelection bid in 1996, but refused to switch parties despite numerous overtures from the Republicans. In the 2004 Democratic primaries, Taylor endorsed Wesley Clark
Wesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
. He voted for John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
in 2008.
Taylor was a strong critic of the Bush Administration
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's fiscal policy
Fiscal policy
In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy....
. He voted against the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, claiming that the cuts contained in those bills would only increase the national debt. He derided the prescription drug plan passed in 2003 as a giveaway to companies that donate to the Republican Party. He is one of the House's most vehement opponents of free trade agreements and was strongly opposed to the Bush administration's proposals for reforming Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
. He has also voted at times with more liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
members of the House with regards to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Since coming to the House, he has voted in favor of most campaign finance
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
laws and other laws favored by more progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
elements of the Democratic Party to reform politics.
Taylor was a staunch and consistent opponent of most free trade agreements. He voted against NAFTA and GATT. He voted against fast-track authority in 1998 and 2002. He also opposed Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 2000.
Taylor has a mixed voting record on environmental issues; he has voted repeatedly against the ban on drilling
Offshore drilling
Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...
in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), while voting at other times with the mainstream of his party. He has also denounced Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
's ties to Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
.
In House Armed Services Committee hearings, Taylor was sharply critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
and other administration witnesses, particularly regarding shortages of armor for troops and vehicles in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. He decried the lack of urgency to speed up production and procurement of armored vehicles and of jammers to block the signals of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
According to a 2011 survey by the National Journal
National Journal
National Journal is a nonpartisan American weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends. National Journal was first published in 1969. Times Mirror owned the magazine from 1986 to 1997, when it was purchased by David G. Bradley...
, Taylor was the most conservative Democrat in the House.
Much of Taylor's district took a direct hit from the storm, which destroyed his home in Bay St. Louis (27 miles west of Biloxi) as well as Lott's home in Pascagoula. He has since moved to Kiln
Kiln, Mississippi
Kiln is a census-designated place in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area...
while he rebuilds his home in Bay St. Louis.
When former Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
(FEMA) director Michael D. Brown
Michael D. Brown
Michael DeWayne Brown was the first Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response , a division of the Department of Homeland Security . This position is generally referred to as the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency . He was appointed in January 2003 by...
appeared before the committee, Taylor reacted angrily to Brown's attempts to put primary responsibility for the failed response at the state and local level. Taylor seemed particularly upset that several first responders in Hancock County
Hancock County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 42,967 people, 16,897 households, and 11,827 families residing in the county. The population density was 90 people per square mile . There were 21,072 housing units at an average density of 44 per square mile...
, his home county, were forced to loot a Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
to get food and supplies. They also had to wait several days after the storm before they got any help from FEMA workers. He told Brown that FEMA "fell on (its) face" in its response to Katrina, which he said rated "an F-minus in my book."
1988
After one term, he ran as the Democratic candidate to succeed RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
incumbent Trent Lott
Trent Lott
Chester Trent Lott, Sr. , is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and has served in numerous leadership positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate....
in Mississippi's 5th District when Lott made a successful run for the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. He lost to Harrison County
Harrison County, Mississippi
-National protected areas:* De Soto National Forest * Gulf Islands National Seashore - Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 189,601 people, 71,538 households, and 48,574 families residing in the county. The population density was 326 people per square mile . There were 79,636 housing...
sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Larkin I. Smith
Larkin I. Smith
Larkin I. Smith was an American politician from Mississippi.Smith was born in Poplarville, Mississippi. He served at various positions in the Pearl River County and then Harrison County police forces, eventually becoming Chief of Police of Gulfport Police Dept...
by almost 10 points. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. They play a critical role in recruiting candidates, raising funds, and organizing races in districts that are expected to yield...
offered very little help to Taylor, believing the district to be too heavily Republican. Vice President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
beat Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
by approximately a 70 to 30 margin in the district, and Lott beat Wayne Dowdy
Wayne Dowdy
Charles Wayne Dowdy is a former United States Congressman from Mississippi, United States Senate candidate and currently chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party.-Early life:Dowdy was born in Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia....
by a similar margin in the Senate race. Although about 30,000 Bush and Lott voters split their tickets to vote for Taylor, he could not overcome the Republican tide in the district.
1989
Smith died in a plane crash eight months later. In the special election to fill Smith's seat, Taylor picked up 42 percent of the vote to lead Republican Tom AndersonTom Anderson
Tom Anderson may refer to:*Tom Anderson , entrepreneur and co-founder of MySpace*Tom Anderson , former member of the Alaska State Legislature...
and Democrat Mike Moore
Mike Moore (Mississippi politician)
Michael Moore was the Attorney General for the U.S. State of Mississippi from 1988 to 2004. In 1994, he filed the first lawsuit against thirteen tobacco companies, claiming that they should reimburse the State for the costs of treating those with smoking-related illnesses...
in the first round. Some leading Democrats had tried to convince Taylor to stand aside and not seek the position in deference to Moore, who was the state's Attorney General and who was also a Gulf Coast resident, but Taylor doubled Moore's vote total on the first ballot. Two weeks later, Taylor beat Anderson, Lott's Chief of Staff, with 65 percent of the vote. Taylor took office on October 24, 1989.
1990 through 2008
Taylor won a full term in 1990 with 81 percent of the vote. He easily turned back spirited reelection challenges in 1992, 1994 and 1996, taking over 60 percent of the vote each time However, he was reelected in 1998 with 77 percent of the vote and was reelected five more times after that by an average of 70 percent of the vote. His district was renumbered the 4th after the 2000 redistrictingRedistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
cost Mississippi a congressional seat.
2010
Taylor was defeated by Republican state representative Steven PalazzoSteven Palazzo
Steven McCarty Palazzo is the U.S. Representative for . The district takes in most of Mississippi's share of the Gulf Coast and includes Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Laurel and Hattiesburg. He is a member of the Republican Party. He defeated 10-term Democratic incumbent Gene Taylor with 52% to...
on November 2, 2010. His vote against Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
for president in 2008 became a campaign issue when Taylor released campaign ads pointing to his support of McCain as evidence of his bipartisanship. However, Palazzo attacked Taylor for supporting Pelosi as Speaker and claimed Taylor voted with his party's leadership 82 percent of the time. Taylor was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee
National Right to Life Committee
The National Right to Life Committee is the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the United States with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide. The group works through legislation and education to work against abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted...
.
In the following lame duck session of Congress, Taylor dropped his opposition to the Navy's plan to buy both classes of Littoral combat ship
Littoral combat ship
A Littoral Combat Ship is a type of relatively small surface vessel intended for operations in the littoral zone . It is "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals." Two ship classes are the first...
, even though this greatly reduced the chances that a shipyard in his former district would then be able to bid for follow on contracts.
Personal life
Taylor and his wife Margaret have three children. He holds a black belt in TaekwondoTaekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
.
External links
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
- Keeping His Promise Post Hurricane Katrina interview by Perry Hicks For GulfCoastNews.com