Shannon Taylor touts her prosecutor past as she runs against Rep. Rob Wittman (R) for a battleground seat in Virginia.
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A candidate in one of this fall’s most competitive House races is taking a novel approach to the issue of good government, reminding voters of the time she helped send a fellow Democratic official to jail.
Shannon Taylor, a prosecutor in Virginia, is launching a television ad this week highlighting her role in helping prosecute Joe Morrissey, one of the state’s most notorious politicians, more than a decade ago. She is running against incumbent Rob Wittman (R) in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, a closely divided race that national Democrats have targeted as a potential flip.
With polls showing Americans’ trust in Congress at a historic low, public corruption and government ethics have become hot issues around the country during this year’s elections to determine control of the House. In one reflection of that trend, Democratic and Republican voters alike are bashing members of Congress for trading stocks on alleged insider information.
Taylor has questioned Wittman’s increase in wealth over his two decades representing the district. Wittman, meanwhile, has suggested that Taylor is soft on crime and has favored criminals in her career as the top prosecutor in Henrico County, in the Richmond suburbs.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) has made corruption a key part of Democrats’ pitch to voters, vowing to “hold the crooks accountable.” In demonstrating her willingness to prosecute a fellow party official, Taylor diverged from the usual Democratic campaign strategy of blasting the actions of President Donald Trump.
Taylor’s commercial touts her decision to pursue sex-related charges in 2013 against Morrissey, who at the time was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and a former prosecutor. Investigators accused Morrissey, then 56, of having sex a 17-year-old receptionist at his law firm.
“I didn’t care that he was a Democrat, or the pressure that I got to make it go away,” Taylor says in the ad, titled “Doing What’s Right.”
Taylor recused herself from the case, citing political connections with Morrissey, but appointed a special prosecutor from another county to pursue the charges. Morrissey had donated $500 to Taylor’s political campaign in 2011, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance site Virginia Public Access Project.
The lawmaker eventually entered an Alford plea (with which a person does not admit guilt but concedes overwhelming evidence) to a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He resigned his seat in the House of Delegates but remained a popular antiestablishment figure in the Richmond area.
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Morrissey was reelected in a 2015 special election while serving his jail sentence, later married the former receptionist, Myrna Pride, had several children with her and eventually served as a state senator. He lost a primary for the state Senate seat in 2023. This year, Morrissey is running for a seat on the Petersburg City Council.
Taylor investigated Morrissey again in 2016 when a law client accused him of exposing himself and pushing her to have sex, but while Taylor said at the time that his conduct was “unethical,” she said there was not enough evidence to press charges.
In an interview, Taylor said her clashes with Morrissey show that she is willing to hold members of both parties accountable. “The problem in Washington is that voters feel like there’s no one who is willing to stand up to their own party,” Taylor said.
She blamed rising consumer costs on lawmakers who are too interested in enriching big corporations and themselves. Taylor said she would favor banning stock trades for members of Congress and preventing them from joining lobbying firms after leaving office.
She would not specify investigations she might pursue in Congress, and declined to take a position on whether Democrats should support the reelection of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who was pardoned by Trump last year after a federal grand jury indicted him on bribery and money-laundering charges.
“I’m focusing on my race,” she said. “When I get to D.C., I will do everything I possibly can to … hold elected officials accountable.”
Wittman voted over the summer for a resolution to prevent members of Congress and their families from trading stocks in public companies and to disclose intended sales of stocks in advance. The resolution has not been acted on by the Senate.
The nonpartisan election analysis site Cook Political Report rates the 1st District, which stretches from the Richmond suburbs to the rural Northern Neck on the eastern side of the state, as “Leans Republican.” In statewide elections last year, the district supported Democrat Abigail Spanberger for governor but Republicans for lieutenant governor and attorney general.
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