Allen West

Allen Bernard West
Chairman of the Texas Republican Party
In office July 20, 2020 – July 11, 2021
Preceded by	James Dickey
Succeeded by	former state Representative Matthew Daniel "Matt" Rinaldi
U.S. Representative for Florida's 22nd Congressional District
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Ron Klein
Succeeded by	Lois Frankel
Born	February 7, 1961 Atlanta, Georgia
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Angela West
Children	Two children
Religion	Christian[1]
Military Service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1982–2004
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands	20th Field Artillery 4th Infantry Division
Battles/wars	Persian Gulf War Iraq War

Allen Bernard West (born February 7, 1961, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a conservative former candidate for governor of Texas. He finished second to incumbent Greg Abbott in the Republican primary held on March 1, 2022. The lengthy early voting period in Texas ran from February 14–25, 2002.^[2] He is the former state chairman of the Texas GOP.^[3][4] He is also a former United States Representative for Florida's 22nd congressional district. He previously has served in the United States Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Allen West's campaign motto is “Defending the Texas Republic.”^[5] A Tea Party favorite, West announced on July 4, 2021, his candidacy for Texas governor in the 2022 midterm elections to challenge incumbent establishment Republican Governor Greg Abbott.^[6] Central to West's campaign was his conservative opposition to the Green New Deal. It was only after West released a video on May 23, 2021, for Abbott to complete the border wall that Abbott then moved on the issue.^[7] In Texas there is a runoff election if no one receives more than 50 percent plus one vote, and the Republican runoffs often favor the more conservative candidate. The well-financed conservative former state Senator Don Huffines also ran on the issues of "finish the wall, secure our elections, and ban vaccine mandates."^[8]

West received his bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and his master's degree from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, both in political science. He also holds a Master's of Military Arts and Sciences from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer College in political theory and military operations. In addition, West taught a year of high school in Broward County, Florida. He had the support of the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Tea Party Movement.

His military career includes serving in several combat zones: Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom (in which he was battalion commander for the Army's 4th Infantry Division), and Afghanistan, where he trained Afghan officers.

West is the President and CEO of The Hope Center, a non-profit in Plano, Texas, which operates a commercial office building complex providing reduced rent and office services to Christian non-profit organizations (including notable ones such as I Am Second and Joni and Friends).^[9]

Liberal exploitation of early voting and questionable ballots caused the liberal media to insist just as the numbers had likely wrongfully stated that West lost his 2012 reelection bid to Democrat Patrick Murphy by a mere 0.7 percent.^[10] West contested the election; however, he conceded on November 20, 2012, citing "high evidentiary hurdles."^[11][12]

West left Florida after his congressional defeat and relocated to Texas. To win the state Republican chairmanship, he unseated the four-year incumbent, James Dickey of Austin, at the first of the party's two summer conventions in an early morning vote by state senatorial districts on July 20, 2020.^[13] However West announced that effective July 11, 2021 he will step down as state GOP chairman; it is believed he plans to run for political office in Texas, either for the 32nd Congressional District (currently held by Democrat Colin Allred; the district is a swing district which leans and is trending Democrat) or to run against Governor Greg Abbott (a move which, if successful, could virtually guarantee a Democrat flip of the governorship).

After a year as state chairman, West resigned to challenge Governor Abbott in the primary scheduled for March 1, 2022. With West's candidacy imminent, Abbott suddenly agreed to spend state funds to complete gaps in the border wall, as West had called upon him to do.^[14]

West and his wife, Angela, have two children. In August 2021, Mrs. West was arrested for driving under the influence though she had not been drinking. This may be a political vendetta by Dallas police aimed at the conservative West, who is despised by the Democrats and the Moderate Republican establishment.^[15]

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