Allen West (politician)

Allen Bernard West (born February 7, 1961) is an American politician and retired military officer. A member of the Republican Party, West represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013 and served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2020 to 2021.

West was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and began his military career in 1983 after graduating from the University of Tennessee. He was deployed to Kuwait in 1991 and Iraq in 2003. In 2003, West was charged in an incident that involved the beating and simulated execution of an Iraqi policeman, with West firing a gun near the Iraqi man's head during an interrogation. After an Article 32 hearing was held, West accepted non-judicial punishment, was fined $5,000, and allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel. After leaving the army, West moved to Florida, where he taught at a high school for a year and worked for a defense contractor, part of this time spent in Afghanistan as a civilian adviser to the Afghan National Army.

West entered politics in 2008 as the Republican nominee for Florida's 22nd congressional district, losing to Democratic incumbent Ron Klein. In a rematch in 2010, he won the seat, coinciding with significant Republican gains in that year's midterm elections. West took office in January 2011 as the first African-American Republican member of Congress from Florida since Josiah T. Walls left office in 1876 near the end of Reconstruction. In Congress, West was a high-profile member of the Tea Party Caucus and the Tea Party movement. Widely described as a "firebrand conservative", West stirred controversy during his time in Congress for incendiary comments about Islam, descriptions of President Barack Obama as a "low-level Socialist agitator", and unfounded accusations that 81 Democratic members of Congress were members of the Communist Party. Redistricting due to the 2010 census resulted in West switching to Florida's 18th congressional district for the 2012 House elections. He lost to Democratic nominee Patrick Murphy in what was the most expensive congressional House race that year.

West ran for the chairmanship of the Republican Party of Texas in 2020. West became the new state chairman after he defeated the incumbent chairman, James Dickey, on July 20, 2020. On June 4, 2021, West announced his resignation as GOP chair, fueling speculation that he would challenge Governor Greg Abbott in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. On July 4, 2021, West announced his run for Governor of Texas from his church in Carrollton, Texas. His resignation was effective July 11, when the State Republican Executive Committee met to select his successor. On the way out, West has received criticism within the Texas GOP for having a conflict of interest; it has been alleged that he should not have served as Texas GOP chair and campaigned for governor at the same time. He was defeated by Abbott in the primary.