WASHINGTON — Rep. Van Taylor apologized Wednesday for an affair with an ex-jihadist dubbed the “ISIS bride” by British tabloids and abruptly dropped his bid for a third term, conceding the GOP runoff to rival Keith Self, a former Collin County judge.

“About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life,” he said in an email to supporters.

The infidelity surfaced just before Tuesday’s primary with help from a third candidate, Suzanne Harp.

A Plano resident named Tania Joya — widow of the most infamous American to join the Islamic State — contacted Harp last Thursday, hoping she would confront Taylor privately and persuade him to drop out and resign from Congress.

Instead, Harp sent a supporter to interview Joya, who has been profiled in the The Atlantic and tabloid fodder for years in her native Britain.

On Sunday afternoon, two days before the primary, a right-wing website, National File, posted audio of that 35-minute interview full of salacious details about the nine-month affair. The next day, the conservative site Breitbart posted a similar story that it labeled “exclusive.”

Conservatives gleefully spread the stories on social media.

Although Taylor has enjoyed stellar ratings from the NRA, Heritage and other conservative groups, he was one of five Texas Republicans who voted to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in every state. Self and Harp had made that vote central to the campaign.

Former President Donald Trump snubbed four of those five, including Taylor, as he bestowed endorsements on 16 other Texas congressional incumbents.

Under Texas election law, Self will become the nominee as long as Taylor withdraws in writing to the state Republican Party chair. The deadline is the third day after the deadline for canvassing the results. “If he withdraws by 5 p.m. on March 16, then the other candidate is declared the nominee and the runoff election is canceled,” said Sam Taylor, spokesman for the Texas secretary of state.

“I hope to earn your trust as we move towards our common goal of restoring integrity to Congressional District 3,” Self tweeted a few hours before Taylor dropped out, breaking a silence about the scandal.

Later, by email, Self called Taylor’s decision to suspend his campaign “appropriate” because “conservatives who believe family values are the backbone of our nation are held to a high standard.”

He pledged to serve the district “honorably and to the best of my ability….I believe deeply that the Republican Party offers the best solutions to the many problems – from national defense to education to inflation and a long list of others – and I plan to devote my time and energy to helping fellow conservatives build public confidence and trust and win elections.”

‘Shocking’

On Monday night Harp, having orchestrated the publicity about the affair, pounced.

She called the revelation of the affair “shocking…disturbing and unbecoming of a sitting U.S. Representative” and warned that it would be “dangerous to have compromised and corrupt representation in Washington.”

Taylor’s campaign website describes him as “Family Man. Businessman. United States Marine.” There’s video footage of him and his wife, Anne, happily walking hand in hand. In a wedding photo, he’s in a Marine dress uniform – they married after he returned from Iraq. They have three daughters.

The reality was at odds with the image.

“Today I am announcing I will not continue my campaign to seek re-election to Congress,” Taylor wrote his supporters.