House Republican Drops Re-Election Bid After Admitting Affair With Alleged ‘ISIS Bride’

Rep. Van Taylor (R-TX) will no longer seek re-election after he admitted on Wednesday to cheating on his wife, reportedly with the widow of an American-born ISIS recruiter.

One of Taylor’s Texas Republican primary opponents, Keith Self, had forced a runoff election against Taylor on Tuesday night.

Taylor almost met the bar to face Democrat Sandeep Srivastava in the general election, but fell just short of getting a majority of the votes

The election results are moot, as Taylor dropped out Wednesday afternoon.

National File, a conservative outlet, reported alleged details of an affair between Taylor and Tania Georgelas — who was previously married to late Texas-born Islamic State combatant John Georgelas.

Tania, who is often referred to as the “ISIS Bride,” now goes by Tania Joya and works to reform extremists.

National File reported,

According to Georgelas, the affair ran from October 2020 and extended through June 2021. Georgelas admits that she initiated the affair when she told Taylor that she found him attractive. From there the two began to exchange messages, some of which were extremely graphic.

One message allegedly sent by Taylor to Joya stated, “I want a long slow rim job while I have a drink – then for you to deep throat me while you stroke my cock and I cum on your tonsils.”

Taylor, who is married with children, was accused of courting Joya for a continued affair, despite the fact that she was reportedly depressed and suicidal.

Taylor confirmed an affair to his supporters in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

“About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world,” Taylor wrote. “I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life.”

He did not mention Joya by name.

Joya’s story has been well-documented. As the AP noted:

In 2013, he took her and their three children to northern Syria where, as Yahya Abu Hassan, he became the most important American fighting for ISIS. He was killed in 2017.

Three weeks after their arrival in Syria, a pregnant Joya fled to Turkey with the children, then to Plano to live near her in-laws. The couple was covered for years by tabloids in her native Britain and profiled in U.S. publications.