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Taylor Griffin
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Taylor Griffin was a 2016 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 3rd Congressional District of North Carolina.[1] Griffin was defeated by incumbent Walter Jones in the Republican primary.[2]
Griffin previously sought election to the same seat in 2014.[3] Griffin was defeated by incumbent Walter Jones in the Republican primary on May 6, 2014.[4]
Biography
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Griffin earned a policial science degree from Appalachian State University. After graduating, he worked for Sen. Jesse Helms and then under former President George W. Bush in the White House and Treasury Department. After his political service, Griffin founded a public policy consulting firm, but he sold the business to return to North Carolina.[5]
Elections
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Walter Jones (R) defeated Democratic candidate Ernest Reeves in the general election. Jones defeated Taylor Griffin and Phil Law in the Republican primary, while Reeves defeated David Hurst for the Democratic nomination. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016. The general election took place on November 8, 2016.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Walter Jones Incumbent |
67.2% | 217,531 | |
| Democratic | Ernest Reeves | 32.8% | 106,170 | |
| Total Votes | 323,701 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Walter Jones Incumbent |
64.9% | 15,799 | ||
| Phil Law | 20.3% | 4,946 | ||
| Taylor Griffin | 14.8% | 3,610 | ||
| Total Votes | 24,355 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ernest Reeves |
54.7% | 6,456 | ||
| David Hurst | 45.3% | 5,351 | ||
| Total Votes | 11,807 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
2014
Griffin ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 3rd District. Griffin was defeated by incumbent Walter Jones in the Republican primary on May 6, 2014.[4]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Walter Jones Incumbent |
50.9% | 22,616 | ||
| Taylor Griffin | 45.1% | 20,024 | ||
| Al Novinec | 4% | 1,798 | ||
| Total Votes | 44,438 | |||
| Source: Results via the North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
Endorsements
Griffin was endorsed by the following:
- Sarah Palin[7]
- The Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI)[8]
- Ending Spending Action Fund[9]
Campaign themes
2016
Griffin listed the following issues on his campaign website.[10]
- Right to life: "Taylor is a pro-life conservative who believes every life is a sacred gift from God that begins at conception and must be protected. The life of an unborn child is no different and no less valuable than the life of anyone else."
- Eastern North Carolina values: "Taylor will fight for the values of service to neighbors and country, hard-work and individual responsibility instilled in him growing up in Eastern North Carolina. He believes in a culture that respects life and the free-exercise of religion."
- Smaller government: "You need to look no further than the October government shutdown, Obama-Care or our out of control federal spending to see that Washington D.C. is broken. Taylor Griffin believes the closer the government is to the people, the more effective it can be. Taylor will follow the model of our Founding Fathers and push to return power to state and local governments wherever possible."
- Taxes: "The key to our nation’s economic recovery is to keeping more money in the hands of its shareholders, those who pay taxes. Our nation’s fiscal crisis is not the result of Americans being taxed too little. The problem is our federal government spends too much. Our complex tax code is a burden on America’s families, corporations and small businesses that hurts our economy and discourages job creation. Taylor supports fundamental tax reform that will simplify the tax code by closing loopholes, lowering marginal tax rates, and reducing or eliminating taxes on investments. This will do more to jumpstart our economy than any government stimulus package. You, the taxpayer, know best how to spend your money and the more you have in your pocket, the quicker we will see an economic recovery."
- Individual liberty: "The Federal Government has slowly chipped away at the individual liberties our Founding Fathers fought and died for. Be it the assault on our 2nd Amendment Rights, overreaching federal mandates like Obama-Care or the misuse of your tax dollars, your liberties are being challenged every day. Taylor will be a champion for our Constitution and your God-given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence."
- Jobs and economy: "There is no greater example of a broken federal government than the poor decisions of recent years that have stifled our economy and sent the jobless rate soaring. While private sector businesses struggle to stay afloat, government continues to grow, imperiling our nation’s fiscal future and strangling businesses with burdensome government regulations. Taylor believes that the free market, not government programs, provides the best path to prosperity. Government should be an ally to the private sector, removing hurdles to job creation and economic growth rather than creating new ones. By reducing Federal red tape, simplifying the tax code, supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, and returning fiscal sanity to Washington, America can once again be the economic dynamo that is the envy of the world."
- Federal spending: "From Main Street to Wall Street, there is a basic principle that everyone seems to understand: You don’t spend more than you have. Unfortunately, Congress doesn’t understand this basic idea and their wasteful spending is endangering the future of our children and grandchildren. Our national debt now exceeds $17 trillion and grows larger each day. As your Congressman, TAYLOR will fight to eliminate wasteful spending, reform government entitlement programs to secure Social Security and Medicare for future generations and champion a federal budget that is based upon sound economic principles."
- Second Amendment: "The second amendment is fundamental to American liberty. The right to bear and keep arms is essential to the preservation of our Republic. Our founders knew that, yet too many of our elected representatives seem to have forgotten the importance of this vital right. In recent years, political pressure has grown to restrict gun ownership. Taylor understands that such measures will largely prevent law-abiding citizens from owning firearms while doing little to keep guns out of the wrong hands. A Department of Justice survey recently found that 90% of convicted criminals acquired their guns through illegitimate means or through straw purchases. Taylor is a proud gun owner and a life member of the National Rifle Association. While he is an avid sportsman, he understands that the second defense is crucial to securing liberty and allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. As your Congressman, Taylor will stand up against any attempt to limit the right to keep and bear arms and will fight for the rights of law-abiding gun owners."
- Healthcare: "The improperly named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act neither protects patients nor makes health care more affordable. The disastrous roll-out of the Obamacare website is just the tip of the iceberg. Now, as people in North Carolina and around the country are receiving notices of plan cancellations and premium increases, this point hardly needs making. Obamacare was fundamentally flawed from the start. The law is riddled with faulty assumptions, perverse incentives, and unworkable policies that make its failure all but certain. Taylor believes that we must stop Obamacare before it can do any further damage by delaying its implementation immediately. Taylor will fight to repeal Obamacare and replace it with health care reform rooted in free market principles that will put health care choices back in the hands of you and your doctor, not Washington bureaucrats."
Campaign finance summary
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Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Taylor Griffin North Carolina Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2014
- North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Roll Call, "Walter Jones Primary Challenger Looks for Rematch in 2016," July 7, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "North Carolina Primary Results," June 7, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Taylor Griffin running for Congress in N.C.," October 3, 2013
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Associated Press, "2014 primary results," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Taylor Griffin, Republican for Congress, "About," accessed January 18, 2016
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "June Primary Candidates," accessed March 27, 2016
- ↑ The Weekly Standard, "Palin Endorses Griffin in NC House Primary," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Open Secrets, "Emergency Cmte for Israel, Outside Spending," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Open Secrets, "Ending Spending Fund, Outside Spending," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Taylor Griffin, Republican for Congress, "Issues," accessed January 18, 2016
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