Taylor Darling
Member of the New York State Assembly from the 18th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2019
Preceded by	Earlene Hooper
Personal details
Born	(1983-11-21) November 21, 1983 (age 40) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Residence(s)	Hempstead, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Spelman College Hofstra University
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Taylor Darling (formerly Taylor Raynor) is an American elected official from the state of New York. She is a Democrat, currently representing the 18^th District in the New York State Assembly since 2019. Taylor is second generation Nigerian, Trinidadian and English and was reared in the Jewish and Episcopalian faiths.

Early life and career

Taylor Darling was born on November 21, 1983, in Brooklyn, New York. She is an American and British citizen, having lived in Europe in her youth during her father’s service in the military. Her parents - Raulston and Towana Bertley - were the blueprint for strength, hard work, knowledge, focus, and strategy. Raulston was a veteran, while Towana – who was a member of the United Federation of Teachers - devoted her life to law, justice and education, teaching in the Uniondale School District on Long Island. At the age of four, Taylor learned to play chess and eventually became a nationally-ranked chess player. Her father taught her how to play and enforced a strict practice routine for competitions. Taylor’s father suffered from radiation poisoning while serving in the military in Europe, and the family moved back to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn for better medical care. He eventually died when Taylor was just 10 years old.

When she was 11 years old, Taylor’s family relocated from Brooklyn to Nassau County on Long Island where she attended Turtle Hook Jr. High School and Uniondale High School, graduating early at the age of 16. The Talented and Gifted Program is what enabled her to skip a grade in middle school, and it triggered her thirst for knowledge and penchant for an educational platform that she touts today. After high school, Taylor attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the oldest and most prestigious historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the United States. U.S. News & World Report has ranked it the #1 HBCU for 17 years in a row. She spent just three years there, once again graduating early at 19 years old. Upon graduation, Taylor entered a Clinical Psychology doctoral program in Georgia. Three years later, Taylor’s mother became afflicted by a terminal illness, and she returned to Nassau County to care for her. During this time, she enrolled in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology master’s degree program at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

Post college, Taylor worked as a business consultant. She achieved great success helping businesses increase efficiency, productivity and profitability, all while balancing marriage and motherhood. However, when she announced her plans to run for office, she was immediately terminated from her private sector job. Rather than focus on a wrongful termination lawsuit, she instead focused on ensuring her voice was heard – not silenced – and giving every little girl behind her a place where they can be heard too. Taylor’s goal was to re-invest in the community that invested so much into her.

New York State Assembly

On September 13, 2018, Taylor won the primary election for the New York State Assembly, representing the 18th Assembly District, after challenging 30-year incumbent Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper. In this crushing victory, Taylor won 54 percent of the votes in the primary race where she had the endorsement from then Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs and Newsday. On November 6, 2018, she easily won the general election with 86 percent of the votes. The district she represents extends to Baldwin, Freeport, Garden City, Hempstead, Lakeview, Roosevelt, Uniondale, and West Hempstead. Taylor won re-election in the general election on November 2, 2020. In a sweeping victory, she defeated her Republican opponent with 84 percent of the votes. Again, she defeated her Republican opponent with 84 percent of the votes on November 8, 2022 to serve in a third and final term in the New York State Assembly. In 2023, Darling announced her candidacy to run for New York State’s 6^th Senate District. The 6^th Senate seat, being vacated by Senator Kevin Thomas who was running for U.S. Congress but suspended his campaign, overlaps with Taylor’s current Assembly seat by more than 32 percent. As Taylor runs for the open seat in this historic race, she is well positioned to become the first woman senator in the 6^th SD and the first Black senator to represent Long Island in the State Senate’s 247-year history.

Taylor is currently the chair of the Subcommittee on Foster Care. She also sits on the following committees: Children and Families; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Local Governments; People with Disabilities; Small Business; Transportation; Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus; Legislative Women’s Caucus; the Task Force on Women’s Issues; and The Black Task Force.

Taylor is the prime sponsor on the following legislation in the State Assembly:

Some of Taylor’s many accomplishments in the State Assembly include:

• Allocating funds for homeownership, assisting families in purchasing or keeping their homes.
• Allocating funds for student transportation services, addressing a transportation desert that exists on Long Island.
• Championing a high school trade program at Roosevelt High School for students to learn the construction trade, creating a pathway for future success post high school. The first such program in New York State and one of only seven in the United States, students receive a certification after they complete the program to immediately enter into the workforce.
• Fighting for long-needed repairs to hazardous roads on Long Island by securing state funds for major pothole repair and highway paving. For this, she is affectionately known as the “pothole princess of New York State.”

Personal life

Darling lives in Uniondale, Nassau County, on Long Island, New York with her beautiful family. She is passionate about philanthropy, travel, pop culture, organization, and having one new experience every day.

References

External links

• New York Assemblywoman Taylor Darling (D-Hempstead)