Maybe they’ve campaigned on promises of championing the working class, just to lick corporate America’s boots once in office. They could be a homophobic Republican getting caught in the act with another man or a hypochondriacal Democrat breaking their own COVID-19 guidance.
Leading up to the March primaries, Texas politicians consistently made national and international headlines for saying and doing terrible stuff. An unsurprising trend in news coverage also emerged: The Lone Star State has long harbored officials accused of hypocrisy, and this primary season was no exception.
Here are the top five strangest paradoxical moments on the 2022 campaign trail.
U.S. Rep. Van Taylor
U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, a Republican from Plano, is in hot water.
United States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This one is pretty hard to believe. On Wednesday, Republican U.S. Rep. Van Taylor of Plano announced he’d be ending his bid for reelection following reports he’d had an affair with a woman whom the tabloids have dubbed “ISIS bride.”
Taylor, who has a wife and three daughters, had been pushed into a primary runoff. The day before Tuesday’s election, the right-wing outlet Breitbart News reported that the self-described “family man” had had an extramarital sexual relationship with Tania Joya, who was once married to an Islamic State (also known as ISIS) commander.
Taylor allegedly paid his mistress $5,000 so that she would keep quiet, according to Breitbart. The publication also reported that in a text message, he asked Joya for a “long slow rim job” while he sipped on a drink. Taylor added that he wanted her to “deep throat” him while “you stroke my cock and I cum on your tonsils.”
Goodness. You kiss your wife and daughters with that mouth, congressman?
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar
Less than two months before last Tuesday’s primary, the FBI raided Congressman Henry Cuellar’s house. The Texas Tribune reported that agents lugged the Laredo Democrat’s personal belongings in bags and bins, plus a computer.
The raid was part of a federal investigation related to several U.S. businessmen and the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan. Texas Public Radio reports that an organization called the Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan has contributed to his campaign; he also facilitated a collaboration between the group and Laredo’s Texas A&M International University in 2015.
In a public statement, Cuellar said he believes he’ll be cleared of wrongdoing.
Cuellar is viewed as one of the House Democratic caucus’ most conservative members. He sits on the Appropriations Committee, which funds many of the federal government’s actions, and co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus.
If Cuellar loses his congressional bid in the May primary runoff, sounds like he’d make a decent Azerbaijan tour guide.
Brad Namdar, Congressional Candidate
Back in January, The Dallas Morning News endorsed conservative small business owner Brad Namdar for Congress. Namdar was a fierce anti-human trafficking advocate, but in February, the News rescinded its support after learning that he’d twice solicited sex from an escort.
On top of that, during Namdar’s time as a coach and teacher at a Dallas high school, Child Protective Services was notified following allegations he’d touched a student inappropriately.
Namdar, who's married, has denied all of the above allegations.
Namdar’s bid for Congress ended on Tuesday after two other GOP candidates advanced to a runoff. Still, his congressional website remembers him fondly, at least.
“Brad is North Texas,” it reads. “He was born in Dallas County, raised in Collin County, and is currently a small business owner in Dallas who knows the moral fabric of who we are in North Texas.”
Sounds like our moral fabric might need a little mending.
Elissa Wev, Judicial Candidate for Dallas County Criminal Court at Law 10
Democratic judicial candidate Elissa Wev had hoped to win election to one of Dallas County’s family violence courts. But in January, she reported to jail on a family violence charge after her ex-girlfriend accused Wev of attacking her.
The previous partner told authorities that Wev had become violent at their home in Oak Cliff, according to The Dallas Morning News. Wev reportedly attempted to take her girlfriend’s cellphone because she believed she was unfaithful.
Wev purportedly twice tackled her ex, pinning her down to the floor and pushing her neck and head against the heater, according to the News. At one point, after her former partner fled to another room and locked the door, Wev allegedly attempted to break the glass with a broomstick handle.
Wev was released shortly after being jailed in Dallas County and is facing a misdemeanor family violence charge. Her website, which perhaps has not been updated recently, says Wev “has continued her advocacy for those affected by intimate partner violence outside of the courtroom.”
She lost in the March 1 primary, trailing behind two others who advanced to a runoff.
Mark Middleton, Texas House Candidate
Before the Capitol insurrection, Mark Middleton was a GOP precinct chair in the highly conservative Cooke County. Yet he appeared to deviate from his “Back the Blue” brethren when he allegedly assaulted police on Jan. 6, 2021, among a mob of fellow supporters of former President Donald Trump rioting at the U.S. Capitol.
After returning home from Washington, Middleton and his wife, who had also allegedly struck police that day, were arrested on multiple federal charges. Even still, Middleton launched a failed bid for Texas House, flashing his Jan. 6 credentials while out on the campaign trail.
Middleton earned 13.3% of the vote in the GOP primary race for House District 68 in North Texas. He told political website Ballotpedia that he looked up to “Lord Jesus, Ronald Reagan, [and] Teddy Roosevelt” and that his first memory of a historical event was “Elvis passing away.”
When asked which principles or characteristics are most important for an officeholder, Middleton answered in one word: “integrity.”
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