Taylor told The Gazette that he would seek to stay in state government if he loses but does not want the job of treasurer, which is held by Nancy K. Kopp of Bethesda.
Taylor lost his election by 71 votes out of 11,000 cast and has asked for a recount, which will be complete by the day after Thanksgiving, in time for Dec. 2 vote for speaker by the Democratic House caucus.
'A trophy'
The Maryland Court of Appeals' decision earlier this year to toss out the legislature's redistricting map played a critical role in the Taylor-Myers race. The speaker was running unopposed until the court put Myers into his district, and Myers won about 70 percent of the vote in the Washington County portion of the district, while Taylor won 61 percent in his home Allegany County portion.
"It's obviously the shock of my life," said Taylor, who had predicted an easy victory.
In addition to redistricting, he blamed a campaign of distortions from Republicans and the gun lobby for his likely loss.
"The Republicans from downstate took advantage of the target that the gun lobby created against me by singling me out as a trophy to defeat," Taylor said. "They did it with a tremendous amount of carpetbagger distortions. ... [They] distorted the issue so badly that people in Washington County were convinced that I was singlehandedly trying to confiscate their guns, which was an outrage."
http://www.gazette.net/200246/montgomerycty/state/130339-1.html