Ex-Rep. switches parties to run again

Former Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.) is switching to the Republican Party and launching a bid against the man who beat him in 2010, Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.).

{mosads}Taylor tells the Mississippi Press that he plans to file the paperwork to challenge Palazzo before Saturday’s filing deadline.

The longtime congressman and former Armed Services Committee chairman held onto his heavily Republican seat for decades by voting frequently against his party. But despite voting for Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential bid and opposing most parts of President Obama’s agenda, Taylor couldn’t hold on against Palazzo in the 2010 GOP wave.