A candidate who tried to remove his name from the ballot but couldn’t wound up winning a seat on the Yolo County Board of Education. Matt Taylor never spent a dime on his campaign after realizing that he would have no time to fundraise, but it didn’t matter; even though he tried to pull out just hours after he had announced his candidacy, he still defeated incumbent Xavier Gamez by 300 votes.
Taylor admitted to the local Fox affiliate, “It started to look like there was going to be a lot of fundraising, and I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be a lot of time to do a big campaign. I’m not ready for that right now, my family is not ready for that right now,’ so I tried to pull out.” He didn’t have any fliers or signs made.
Despite not intending to stay in the race, Taylor said he is prepared for the job, asserting, “I work in education policy, I have my masters degree in public policy, I have worked at the California Department of Education for the better part of the last 10 years and I love education and education policy, so, for me, helping the county and all the kids in the county is where I want to be.” He will be sworn in Dec. 9.