Taking on incumbent politicians isn’t easy.
And it’s especially hard to beat an incumbent in a party primary.
But one GOP incumbent just got brutally taken down by an “ISIS Bride” and a scorned inventor with top-notch training.
Everybody has heard about the ‘ISIS bride’ who had an affair with the disgraced, and since defeated, former Texas Republican Congressman Van Taylor.
But the truth is, the Congressman had been on the ropes long before the sex affair broke.
It’s a hard truth in American politics – taking on an incumbent, especially in a party primary, is a tough way to earn a living.
Incumbents come with all the advantages – money, name recognition, party backing, endorsements, and built-in support.
But sometimes lightning strikes.
And with 2022 proving to be a stormy year for those seeking reelection, it’s no wonder so many are dropping out.
For Texas Congressman Van Taylor, he didn’t just get beaten in his primary – he dropped out of the race.
He might have stayed if not for an investigative journalist who interviewed a woman known as the former “ISIS bride.”
She spilled the beans on Taylor’s affair with her and the hush money she was paid to keep quiet.
And while that might have been the final blow for him to quit the race, the fact is Taylor was in serious trouble long before news of the affair came out.
In the weeks leading up to the primary, thousands of signs reading “Van Taylor Betrayed Us” were placed all over the district.
More than 40,000 Republican primary voters’ doors were knocked on by his opponents.
Leaflets making the case against him were handed out at his own town halls.
And then there was the pressure campaign called “RINO Reckoning” run by Defeating Communism PAC.
They hit Taylor on everything from his poor FreedomWorks score to not doing more to defund vaccine mandates. He also got attacked for voting in favor of the sham Jan. 6th investigative commission.
But the real motivation and main source behind the RINO Reckoning campaign were two inventors.
Josh Malone, a major contributor to the operation, invented and obtained a patent for his product ‘Bunch O Balloons’ that easily fills and seals water balloons and had viral success.
However, a copycat infringed on his patent, and then, the patent office took the copycat’s side.
Only after a lengthy and costly legal battle was Malone able to get his patent back.
He decided to go after Taylor after spending years trying to get him to support patent reform legislation.
Paul Morinville, another patent reform advocate working with Malone on the RINO campaign, said their internal polling showed Van Taylor had around 48% support — enough to force him into a primary runoff against one of his challengers.
This was despite Taylor spending over $500,000 and the Congressional Leadership Fund (House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s super-PAC) spending more than $155,000 in the final weeks to try and revive his reelection chances.
And then the “ISIS bride” story hit. And then Taylor dropped out of the race.
But Malone and Morinville both believe that it was their efforts that ultimately put Taylor under the 50% mark, forcing him into a runoff.
They point out that by the time the affair hit the news, over 60% of votes had already been cast through early voting.
The inventors and their supporters also credited the political, non-profit organization Foundation for Applied Conservative Leadership as the reason why they were able to run such a successful pressure campaign.
The Foundation for Applied Conservative Leadership trains and teaches freedom-loving activists all over the world tried-and-true grassroots techniques and political principles.