Allen West Announces Candidacy for Texas Governor
Allen West is going for the brass ring.
Just over a year from when he was elected chairman of the Republican Party of Texas (RPT), West used the Independence Day holiday to officially announce he is running for Governor in the 2022 Republican Primary.
For many political observers across the state, like Chad Hasty, the announcement can be seen as anti-climatic once West made his intentions known to resign from his RPT chairmanship.
While the filing period for the 2022 Texas Primary Elections is months away, four candidates have already emerged for the Texas Governor's race in the 2022 Republican Primary: incumbent Governor Greg Abbott, former State Senator Don Huffines, Chad Prather, and Allen West.
On Sunday, West used a campaign Twitter account, and his website, to make his campaign announcement:
West's website also features his opinions on many of the current hot-button issues in Texas, and how he would respond to them as governor.
For example, concerning Border Security, West says, "As Governor of Texas:
- "I will prepare, mobilize, and deploy the full strength of our Texas National Guard and Texas State Guard to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance missions along our border with the purpose to interdict the flow of persons and drugs along known infiltration routes. Simply building a wall is not a panacea; you must have boots on the ground and additional electronic surveillance measures.
- "Designate Mexican cartels as transnational criminal and terrorist organizations, enabling us to freeze their financial assets here in Texas, and arrest anyone working with these cartels. We will crack down on real estate agencies that enable “stash houses.” The goal is to financially cripple these organizations, isolate them, and reduce their effectiveness.
- "We will work with the Texas legislature to produce legislation enabling Texas to tax the remittances of illegal immigrants being sent back to foreign nations.
- "If the federal government persists in the abdication of their constitutional duties and responsibilities to safeguard the sovereignty of Texas, we will establish a Texas Border Patrol agency with the powers to arrest, detain, and deport illegals from the State of Texas. We will use the funds seized from cartels and illegal immigrant remittances to fund this organization. If the federal government does not abide by the rule of law, Texas will.
- "We will end the policy of in-state tuition fees for illegal immigrants, nor will there be any Texas taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, especially given that we have homeless veterans in the Lone Star State."
As of now, West will still remain the RPT Chairman through July 11. That's when the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) will meet to vote for a new RPT chairman.