The outgoing Texas Republican Party chairman is running against incumbent Greg Abbott in the GOP primary for governor.
Outgoing Texas Republican Party chairman and candidate for governor Allen West on Sunday urged Americans to stop considering themselves as victims, but should “stand in the gap for liberty and freedom.”
“You know, I look out at this audience. There’s quite a few white folks out there,” said West, who is Black, during a Sunday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas. “But, you know something, I don’t feel one bit oppressed. I don’t feel like a victim, because as an American, as a Texan, I am a victor and not a victim. And as an American and a Texan, we all are victors. We are not victims.”
West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former Florida congressman, is challenging Gov. Greg Abbott in the 2022 GOP primary. West, who now lives in North Texas, announced his resignation as chairman of the Texas GOP after serving in the post for less than one year. His last day as the state’s GOP leader is Sunday.
Unlike rival Donald Huffines, the former Texas state senator also mounting a primary challenge against Abbott, West didn’t mention the governor in his brief remarks to the CPAC crowd. The group, which focuses on conservative policy, urges speakers to refrain from electioneering.
West stuck to the theme of boosting conservatism and guarding against the so-called “cancel culture.”
“If you’re a conservative in America — Black, white, Hispanic, Asian — it doesn’t matter. You are free,” West said.
He added: “In America today, we need more conservatives to stand like a rock, because that’s how we make sure that we don’t find our nation canceled for future generations, for our children and for our grandchildren.”
West urged the CPAC crowd to join the conservative army.
“If we are going to make sure that America is not canceled, we have to step foot on this ideological battlefield,” he said.
Also on Sunday, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, continued to promote unfounded theories that fraud was evident in the 2020 elections, where voters rejected Donald Trump’s bid for reelection as president.
“Look, there’s been fraud in our elections,” Gohmert said. “Some of us stood up and objected and the Democrats went nuts. Same Democrats that objected in January 6, 2017. And then they’re out there demanding that we be ostracized from public life. That’s tyranny and hypocrisy, and we are the ones who can do something about it.”
In addition, Texas Republican Party officials met Sunday in Lewisville to elect a new party chairman to replace West. The winner, former state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, an Irving Republican, announced his candidacy to replace West as party chairman. Rinaldi, a reliably strong conservative in the Legislature before losing reelection in 2018, announced his candidacy for chairman just hours after West said he was stepping down.
