Taylor's parents moved to New York City from Wilmington, North Carolina. Her mother was a member of the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Her parents did not attend college and divorced when she was young. Taylor was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York. She told Texas Monthly, "I was born in Brooklyn, but I grew up in Queens". She attended Public School 95 in the Jamaica neighborhood.
In 1999, after graduation, Taylor returned to San Antonio and began working as the municipal community development coordinator in the Housing and Community Development Department. After six years of employment with the City of San Antonio, Taylor in August 2004, went to work for Merced Housing Texas, an affordable housing agency. She also served on the City Planning Commission as a commission member from 2006 to 2008. She has also served on the board of directors for the Urban Renewal Agency, and Haven for Hope. She served on the board of directors for the Martinez Street Women's Center. She became the president of Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi on June 1, 2020.
Taylor was elected to San Antonio City Council in 2009 to represent District 2 on the east side of the city, and was re-elected to the body in 2011 and 2013. Taylor was appointed as mayor by the San Antonio City Council to serve in the interim following Julian Castro's departure to serve as the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the presidency of Barack Obama. Castro was named in May 2014 to the Obama Cabinet and therefore was obligated to vacate his position as mayor. The charter of the City of San Antonio requires that in the event of a mayoral vacancy, the replacement mayor must be elected by and from the other ten members of the council with a majority of six votes. On July 22, 2014, the members of the San Antonio City Council held a special election to fill the vacant position. After Taylor and fellow councilman Ray Lopez split the vote 5-3 in favor of Taylor, Lopez withdrew from consideration, and Taylor was elected with a 9-0 vote. Once Taylor was elected, Castro immediately resigned as mayor.
2015 San Antonio mayoral race
Taylor had initially said that she would not run for mayor when her interim term expired in 2015; however, she declared her candidacy for re-election on February 16, 2015. In the San Antonio mayoral election held on May 9, 2015, no candidate received a majority of the vote. A runoff election was held on June 13 between Taylor and her remaining rival, Leticia Van de Putte, a liberalDemocratic former member of the Texas Senate and the Texas House of Representatives. Though Van de Putte narrowly led the field in the first round of balloting, Taylor went on to win, 51.7%–48.3%, and hence retain her position as mayor for a full two-year term.
2017 San Antonio mayoral race
On November 13, 2016, Taylor officially announced her intention to run for a second full term as mayor. Elections were held May 6, 2017. She advanced to a runoff on June 10, 2017 where she was defeated by city councilman Ron Nirenberg.
Tenure
In 2013, while on the city council, Taylor voted against a nondiscrimination ordinance approved by the council that would expand the city's then current nondiscrimination policy to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status. Upon taking office as mayor in 2014, Taylor developed and created the city's Office of Diversity and Inclusion to handle complaints under the city's non-discrimination regulations and to facilitate resolution of these disputes. She also helped to kill a streetcar system for downtown San Antonio, which many fiscal conservatives had opposed. Though she considers herself an independent politician, Taylor is a registered Democrat because she votes in party primaries. Taylor has described herself as both "fiscally conservative and socially conservative." United States SenatorJohn Cornyn accompanied Taylor to the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in San Antonio and has urged her to join the GOP and to consider a later run for governor of Texas.
Awards
Taylor received the San Antonio Business Journal's "40 under 40" Rising Star award in 2004.
Personal life
Taylor has one daughter, Morgan. When her family lived in San Antonio, her husband, Rodney Taylor, operated a bail bonds business, and The Taylors lived in the Dignowity Hill neighborhood on the east side of the city. Between 2009 and 2020, Taylor has been a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Public Policy.
Electoral history
San Antonio mayoral election, 2015
First round
On May 9, 2015, the election for mayor was held. None of the leading candidates received more than 50% of the vote and as a result, a runoff election was scheduled for Saturday, June 13, 2015 between the top two vote-getters. * Vote percentage include all of Bexar County with a total of 12,316 either voting in another municipal election or casting no ballot for San Antonio mayor.
Runoff
More people voted in the runoff election for mayor than did in the regular election on May 9, 2015. Taylor found most of her support from conservatives within the city who typically reside on the north side and from her former city council district on the east side. Meanwhile, Van de Putte performed best on the west and south sides of town.
San Antonio mayoral election, 2017
First round
On May 6, 2017, the election for mayor was held. None of the leading candidates received more than 50% of the vote and as a result, a runoff election was scheduled for Saturday, June 10, 2017 between the top two vote-getters. * Vote percentage includes all of Bexar County with a total of 16,745 either voting in another municipal election or casting no ballot for San Antonio mayor.
Runoff
The runoff election between the top two candidates was held on Saturday, June 10, 2017. 230 fewer people voted in the runoff than in the first round.
