Robin L. Taylor is an American Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 politician, lawyer, and judge.http://www.ltgov.state.ak.us/elections/96oep/taylor.htm

Early career

Taylor served as a district judge in Alaska from 1977 to 1982, a representative in the Alaska State Legislature from 1984 to 1992, and as a senator in the Alaska State Legislature from 1992 to 1998.http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/taylor7.html

Gubernatorial campaign, 1998

In 1998, Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 incumbent Governor of Alaska Tony Knowles

Tony Knowles (politician)

Anthony Carroll Knowles is an American Democratic politician and businessman who served as the seventh Governor of Alaska from December 1994 to December 2002. Barred from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004 and again for governor in...

 ran for re-election against newspaper publisher John Howard Lindauer

John Howard Lindauer

John Howard Lindauer II served as Chancellor for the University of Alaska Anchorage from 1976 to 1978 then was Dean of the School of Business and Public Affairs. He was the Republican Party candidate for governor of Alaska in 1998...

, the Republican nominee. Controversy surrounding Lindauer's misrepresentation of information in campaign finance documents, his strong anti-gay rights stances, and whether he met the residency requirements caused his campaign to nearly collapse. One week before the election, Taylor announced that he was launching a write-in campaign as an alternative Republican candidate for governor. Taylor split the Republican vote with Lindauer, earning 18.26% to his 17.86%. Knowles was re-elected in a landslide.

Later career

He was also appointed deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities by then-Governor of Alaska Frank H. Murkowski and served until Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

 decided to replace him with Dennis L. Hardy in February 2007.http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/020707/loc_20070207017.shtml