[2][1] In May 1968, Taylor won the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor over Margaret Harper,[3] the first woman to campaign for a major party's nomination for the post.

His prime opponents for the nomination were Skipper Bowles, a wealthy businessman who also had political and administrative experience, and Wilbur Hobby of the AFL-CIO.

[6] And while Taylor had run a traditional campaign, Bowles had introduced more sophisticated methods with regard to focus groups, opinion polls and television commercials with the help of political consultant Walter DeVries.

[6] Taylor was defeated in the 1972 primary runoff by Bowles after a tough race where Taylor was supported by the Scott wing of the party, while Bowles was supported by much of the old Terry Sanford wing, as well as making inroads with black voters.

[citation needed] In his 2014 book The Making of a Southern Democracy, political scientist Tom Eamon describes Taylor as a calm and reasonable politician, but lacking somewhat in hunger for political power and sometimes informally described by contemporaries as being a little lazy.

In 2005, Taylor published the book Fourth Down & Goal to Go where he wrote about life and politics in Anson County and North Carolina generally.