Mary Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor is a native of Washington, D.C. She earned a degree in political science from Bryn Mawr College and interned at Koch Industries as a college student.[1][2]

Taylor began her career in Capitol Hill as an intern for the United States Senate in July 2006. She also worked in the Senate Republican cloakroom[3] as a Senior Cloakroom Assistant.[4][5] Taylor previously worked as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In March 2017, she gained social media attention for her presence at the confirmation hearings of Neil Gorsuch as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Taylor worked on Gorsuch's nomination team when he met with U.S. senators before the confirmation hearings.[3] In December 2018, Gorsuch officiated at Taylor's formal swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Department of State.[6]

In 2018, she was listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.[7]

Confirmed unanimously by the Senate in October, 2018, Taylor became the first African-American woman to serve as assistant secretary of legislative affairs, the youngest to serve in this role, and the only African-American senior official in the State Department. On June 18, 2020, Taylor submitted her resignation from the State Department in response to President Donald Trump's handling of protests resulting from the killing of George Floyd.[8]