Nude photo scandal roils Republican just before election: 'Guilty of being a rounder'

A Tennessee Republican running for Congress has acknowledged sending nude photos in the past and dismissed them as “youthful indiscretions,” although one source says he sent an unsolicited nude photo as recently as 2021, when he was 53.

State Sen. Brent Taylor of Memphis is the GOP nominee in Tennessee’s newly redrawn 9th Congressional District, and multiple sources told the Nashville Scene that they had received or seen nude photos from him.

One person, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, said Taylor sent them the unsolicited image in 2021, before he won his state Senate seat. A second eyewitness corroborated the photos, according to the Scene.

Taylor didn’t deny sending nude photos but brushed off the questions.

“As I near 60 years old, the expiration date has come and gone on any of my youthful indiscretions,” he told the paper. “Whatever story you think you’ve got, my wife is well aware of and we’ve worked through it a long time ago. My god and my wife have forgiven me, and I would consider everyone else doing the same.”

Taylor also said he had “been guilty of being a rounder, back in the day.” Asked what he meant by the word, which he used several times, he told the reporter to look it up. The term likely refers to a barfly prone to morally dubious behavior, the Scene noted.

The revelations clash with what the Scene described as Taylor’s reputation as a “Christian family man and dedicated husband.” He has been married to his wife, Kimberly, for 30 years.

The GOP-led legislature redrew West Tennessee’s congressional map in May to boost Republicans’ chances, and Taylor won the August primary. Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson, one of the “Tennessee Three” expelled from the legislature in 2023, has narrowed the gap in recent months, though polls and forecasts still favor Taylor.