From 1971 through 1984, Taylor served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve,[2] where he attained the rank petty officer first class.

Taylor was elected to the Bay St. Louis City Council in 1981,[3] and then to a vacant seat in the Mississippi State Senate in 1983.

Taylor and Hale claimed that Dye's control of committee appointments violated the state constitution's separation of powers.

The Supreme Court of Mississippi sided with Dye, but the suit against a powerful leader from his own party helped establish Taylor's reputation for political independence.

[4] He represented a district that had turned almost solidly Republican at the national level, though as late as 2010 most local offices were split between the two parties.

During Taylor's final term, it was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democrat, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+20.

A leading Democratic Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Taylor led committee and floor fights to improve the medical benefits of military retirees and extend TRICARE health insurance to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

Taylor also focused on U.S. policy in Latin America, sponsoring the successful cap on the number of U.S. troops that can be sent to Colombia without explicit Congressional authorization.

Taylor also was a leading critic of the Base Realignment and Closure process, accusing the Department of Defense of smuggling in policy changes that were unrelated to excess capacity or facilities.

[5] In House Armed Services Committee hearings, Taylor was sharply critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other administration witnesses, particularly regarding shortages of armor for troops and vehicles in Iraq.

He decried the lack of urgency to speed up production and procurement of armored vehicles and jammers to block the signals of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

He was one of the House's most vehement opponents of free trade agreements and was strongly opposed to the Bush administration's proposals for reforming Social Security.

In February 2007, he was one of two Democrats to oppose H CON RES 63, which expressed opposition to a troop surge in the Iraq War.

He told Brown that FEMA "fell on (its) face" in its response to Katrina, which he said rated "an F-minus in my book.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee offered very little help to Taylor, believing the district to be too heavily Republican.

Although about 30,000 Bush and Lott voters split their tickets to vote for Taylor, he could not overcome the Republican tide in the district.

In the special election to fill Smith's seat, Taylor picked up 42 percent of the vote to lead Republican Thomas H. Anderson, Jr. and Democrat Mike Moore in the first round.

Taylor won a full term in 1990 with 81 percent of the vote against realtor Sheila Smith, the widow of his predecessor in the House.

He contrasted this with Palazzo's vote against funding for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts and supporting sequestration which cut the defense budget.