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Allen West Announces Run For Texas Governor In A Challenge To Greg Abbott

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Alex Asgari Contributor
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Texas GOP Party chair Allen West announced Sunday that he will run for governor directly challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

West made the announcement during a Fourth of July appearance at Sojourn Church in Carrollton in the Dallas area, according to The Texas Tribune. “I’ve not been in elected political office for about a decade, but I can no longer sit on the sidelines and see what has happened in these United States of America,” West said in a campaign video.

“I couldn’t think of a better place and a better day to make this announcement,” West added after the video concluded.

“I think that it is time for Republicans to stand by the principles of values that they say they believe. As the Republican governor of Texas, I will abide by the platform and the priorities of the Republican Party of Texas,” he said in an interview with The Texan.

“I’m not running against anybody. I’m running for Texas,” he added. Allen West‘s priorities are securing the border, election integrity and property tax relief, according to The Texan. In his launch video, he also mentioned combating sex trafficking and protecting the state’s energy resources and its energy independence.

“Because the sovereignty of Texas has been threatened when you have 1,200 miles that you share with a foreign nation that is really destabilized and controlled by a criminal terrorist organization in the cartels, we’ve got to do better and take responsibility as Texas and not wait and make ourselves dependent upon the federal government, and especially this administration,” West also told the site. (RELATED: Abbott Will Attempt To Use Crowdfunding To Bankroll Texas Border Wall)

West previously served as a Republican representative for Florida’s 22nd congressional district between 2011 and 2013 as a member of the Tea Party movement. After losing his re-election bid to the House, West moved to Texas in 2014 and was elected the state’s GOP chair in 2020 but he stepped down last month, Politico reported.

West joins a growing list of Republican primary contenders, which now includes former state Sen. Don Huffines and conservative YouTuber Chad Prather.

The current governor, Greg Abbott, was first elected in 2014 and soundly re-elected in 2018. Texas doesn’t have gubernatorial term limits and Abbott is seeking a third term in 2022. He was recently endorsed by former President Donald Trump who called him “a fighter and a Great Governor for the incredible people of Texas.”

The two made a joint visit to the border last week.