XPost: or.politics, ca.politics, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: benders@bloody.invalid   
      
    texastribune.org   
   Allen West announces he is running against Gov. Greg Abbott in   
   Republican primary   
   Patrick Svitek   
      
   Texas GOP Chairman Allen West announced Sunday he is running for   
   governor, challenging fellow Republican Greg Abbott.   
      
   The announcement was made during at appearance by West at Sojourn   
   Church in Carrollton, where the former Florida congressman played a   
   video launching his campaign.   
      
   "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 and ... the place that I call home," West   
   said in the video, which was preceded by West reading aloud the   
   Declaration of Independence to the churchgoers gathering on July   
   Fourth.   
      
   West's campaign launch comes about a month after he announced his   
   resignation as state party chairman. The resignation is effective July   
   11, when the State Republican Executive Committee is set to meet to   
   pick West's successor as chair.   
      
   West quickly hinted that he was considering a run for statewide office   
   after he announced his resignation, though speculation had run rampant   
   for months that he was eying a bigger job. As state party chairman, he   
   did not shy away from conflict with state leaders, most notably   
   Abbott.   
      
   Since his election as Texas GOP chair in July of last year when he   
   soundly beat then-incumbent James Dickey, West has criticized Abbott's   
   coronavirus response and sought to push the governor's legislative   
   agenda further to the right.   
      
   Abbott has mostly ignored West's attacks. But the governor has   
   increasingly catered to his right flank in recent months as he has   
   appeared to try to tamp down potential vulnerabilities ahead of his   
   reelection campaign.   
      
   West did not directly mention Abbott in his remarks Sunday in the   
   church or in the video. West used the video to sketch out a platform   
   focused on shielding the state's energy resources against the Green   
   New Deal -- the sweeping climate change proposal pushed by some   
   Democrats in Washington, D.C. -- securing the state's border "to   
   ensure that Texas is for Texans" and combatting sex trafficking.   
      
   Abbott's campaign did not immediately respond to request for a comment   
   on West's announcement.   
      
   Abbott received his first credible primary challenger in May, when   
   former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas launched a bid against   
   Abbott. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller weighed running against   
   Abbott as well but announced last month he would instead seek   
   reelection to his current job.   
      
   Facing the intraparty angst, Abbott also has embraced former President   
   Donald Trump more than ever. In June, he secured Trump's endorsement   
   for reelection, announced Texas would build its own border wall to   
   finish the job started under Trump and invited Trump to the state for   
   a border tour.   
      
   West is also a vocal Trump ally, though he has brushed off the impact   
   of Trump's endorsement on his future political plans.   
      
   "You know, I don't serve President Trump," West said in June. "I serve   
   God, country and Texas. So that does not affect me whatsoever."   
      
   West represented Florida in Congress from 2011-2013. He moved to Texas   
   in 2014 to become the CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis,   
   a Dallas think tank that shuttered three years later.   
   --   
      
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