GOP lawmaker rejects racism charge: ‘My son is named after a black guy’

Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.), who is campaigning for reelection in November, said Democrats are “stupid” if they believe he is an ally of Virginia GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart.

“I don’t give a shit about Corey Stewart,” Taylor told The Virginian-Pilot. “No one else does either except for Democrats who are trying to target me. … No one cares, except for a small teeny amount of people you met at the cupcake place. What are they trying to say? That Scott Taylor likes Corey Stewart so therefore he’s a racist?”

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“Do you think that’s going to play here?” Taylor continued. “My son is named after a black guy. I’m a military guy. We don’t give a shit about where you come from. Black, white, brown, gay, straight. I don’t care.”

Taylor said on Twitter on Monday that his 5-year-old son, reportedly named Sterling, was named after “a black guy who was killed giving his life for them in Afghanistan.”

The Republican lawmaker also added he thought The Hill’s report of his comments was “baselessly” editorialized and “trying to make someone out to be a racist.”

Taylor’s remarks come after his Democratic opponent, Elaine Luria, called on the Republican candidate to condemn Stewart, whose Senate campaign has been dogged by racism accusations, including that he has expressed support for Paul Nehlen, a GOP candidate who attempted to challenge Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), after Nehlen revealed white nationalist and anti-Semitic views.

Luria made the remarks during a weekend campaign rally with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Stewart’s November opponent. She and the senator suggested that Taylor should outright reject Stewart — or else it signals that Taylor “stands with him.”

“He should reject the fact that Corey Stewart stands next to racists and anti-Semites,” Luria said. “If he doesn’t have the fortitude to reject those values, then I think he stands with him.”

Taylor, a former Navy SEAL, continued to say that he plans to run on his own ticket this year and not as part of Stewart’s. 

“People keep writing, ‘Oh my God. Corey Stewart is going to weigh down the ticket.’ … Did Trump weigh me down? No. Not at all. It’s crap,” Taylor added. “That empty strategy assumes that the people in Virginia 02 are too stupid to see the difference between me and someone else. And I don’t think they’re stupid. I think they’re smart.”

Updated at 5:18 p.m.