ALLEN WEST

It’s cutting time. Expect to see some political names you know among Tuesday’s primary election losers.

The 2022 midterm election season opens Tuesday in Texas.

Former state Sen. Don Huffines and ex-Republican Party of Texas Chair Allen West have each made careers out of championing conservative values.

Abbott has moved right on abortion, guns and voting, and has Trump's endorsement. But for some Texans, that's not enough.

The two were neck and neck for the first 20 days of January, but Abbott has the advantage of a massive war chest that’s more than tenfold O’Rourke’s total cash on hand.

The latest fundraising figures in the governor’s race confirm what’s long been seen as the state of play: O’Rourke is a strong fundraiser, but Abbott, with over $65 million saved up, is on another level.

Abbott said the suicides are being investigated and thinks it will come out that not all “actually occurred during Operation Lone Star.”

Legislative leaders overseeing the Texas Military Department say they are looking into reports of suicides, habitual pay problems and poor working conditions on Gov. Greg Abbott's highly touted border mission.

Abbott’s political challenger said guard members deployed to Operation Lone Star are facing late pay, being exposed to COVID-19, experiencing supply shortages and dealing with added stress that has led to multiple suicides tied to the mission.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke is running for governor of Texas.

Huffines has been the most vocal fellow Republican taking on Abbott, pressuring him over his COVID-19 response, the border and other hot-button issues.

The government’s top infectious diseases expert says families can feel safe trick-or-treating outdoors this year for Halloween as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. decline, especially for those who are vaccinated.

Tea party firebrand Allen West is hospitalized with COVID-19 but says he’s “doing great.”.

West, the former chair of the state Republican party, tweeted that his oxygen levels are low and he will likely be hospitalized, but says his condition is “not serious.”

A tea party firebrand who is running for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas says he has received monoclonal antibody injections after being diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia.

In a story published Oct. 9, 2021, about Allen West being diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia, The Associated Press misspelled Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s last name in two references in the story and once in the summary.

Republicans in America’s largest conservative state for years racked up victories under the slogan “Keep Texas Red,” a pledge to quash a coming blue wave that Democrats argued was inevitable given shifting demographics.

Republicans in America’s largest conservative state for years racked up victories under the slogan “Keep Texas Red,” a pledge to quash a coming blue wave that Democrats argued was inevitable given shifting demographics.

From abortion restrictions to guns, the Texas Legislature's regular session Republican victories were just the beginning.

Some party activists had worried Rinaldi would be more of the same after West left the chairmanship to challenge Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this summer.

An affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune shows Angela Graham-West showed signs of intoxication in some — but not all — portions of a field sobriety test. Her lawyer attributes some issues to a previous brain aneurysm Graham-West suffered behind her right eye.

Angela Graham-West, wife of GOP gubernatorial candidate Allen West, was arrested by Dallas Police Friday night for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Allen West said she hadn’t been drinking, that her three-month-old grandson was in the car with her, and called the arrest “insidious.”

In Texas, the vaccination rate among Black people is low compared with other racial and ethnic groups, but in terms of raw numbers, the biggest group of the unvaccinated is white people.

Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford would seem to have all the conservative credentials he’d need to coast to reelection in deep-red Oklahoma.

With a big endorsement and a record-setting fundraising period behind him, Texas' governor is in a political sweet spot.

The State Republican Executive Committee met Sunday to pick a successor for Allen West, the chairman who resigned last month after a drama-filled tenure and is now running for governor.

With only days before he steps down from the helm of the state GOP, West is embroiled in a fight with his vice chair and under attack by county GOP chairs.

Former Florida Congressman Allen West says he’ll challenge Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the Republican nomination next year.

The Texas GOP chairman made his campaign official Sunday.

The governor's announcement Thursday that Texas would build its own border wall was Abbott's boldest move yet in an intensifying focus on the region.

Texas GOP Chairman Allen West is stepping down after a short but combative run of using the job to antagonize top Republicans in America’s biggest red state.

West declined to say whether he was eyeing any particular statewide office, though he told a radio host earlier Friday morning that the host was "safe" to assume West was mulling a gubernatorial run.

Texas GOP Chairman Allen West, Republican U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller each delivered remarks at the event. Marketing for the event included a logo featuring a cowboy hat with the letters “WWG1WGA” around its band, a QAnon motto.

The endorsement comes as Abbott faces a primary challenge from former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas and as other fellow Republicans eye the race.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is used to drawing heat from Democrats, but this week he caught ire from his own party for comments he made Thursday that glorified lynching. There’s old sayings in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,” he said before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on violence against Asian-Americans. That’s what we believe.”Roy later defended his comments, saying “we need more justice and less thought policing.”The comments drew backlash from Democrats, but on Friday, Texas GOP Chair Allen West also weighed in on the controversy, calling Roy’s comments “inappropriate and unfortunate” in a newly released statement. “While his comments about hanging were dumb, they’re not grounds for resignation,” West said. In response to West’s comments, Roy said West “might have had the courtesy to reach out to (him) personally,” according to the Texas Tribune.

|| Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas TribuneA fight has broken out among Texas Republicans over Gab, the embattled social network favored by the far right. That sparked fierce criticism from the company — and new questions from fellow some Republicans about Abbott's own commitment to fighting perceived censorship by social media giants. AdGab promotes itself as a "free speech" alternative to social media behemoths like Facebook and Twitter. Earlier this year, Gab was among the alternative social media sites where Trump loyalists plotted the storming of the Capitol. "TexasGOP has no plan to deplatform from any of our social media accounts," the tweet said.

Cat Parks, Republican Party of Texas vice chair, stood for the Pledge of Allegiance last month before speaking to The Woodlands Republican Women’s Club. Now Parks is turning heads again as she paves her own path at the state party under Allen West, the bombastic former Florida congressman who has alienated some fellow Republicans with his sharp-elbowed leadership as chair. We should be the big-tent party,” says Republican Party of Texas vice chair Cat Parks. She likes to say her first Republican meeting in Texas was in 2017 — and it was the one where she was appointed county chair. If they are Republicans, we need them.”AdOne of Parks’ early supporters for vice chair was David Covey, the Orange County GOP chair whom she met through the Texas Republican County Chairmen’s Association.

The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during this months Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)WASHINGTON – The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during this month’s Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism. The rise of what’s often called Christian nationalism has long prompted pushback from leaders in multiple denominations, with the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty forming the Christians Against Christian Nationalism coalition in 2019. “But as a Christian, my highest allegiance is to Christ.”Yet some supporters of former President Donald Trump say that denunciations of Christian nationalism are a way of attacking them politically. Ad“The fact that we saw QAnon, white supremacy and white Christianity all carried together in a violent attack on the Capitol means that particularly white Christians have got some real soul-searching to do,” said Jones, author of two books on white Christianity in America.

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. Militia members, white supremacists, paramilitary organizations and fervent supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stood shoulder to shoulder, unified in rage. I’m afraid that we’re going to have to be prepared for some worst-case scenarios for a while," said Amy Cooter, a senior lecturer in sociology at Vanderbilt University who studies U.S. militia groups. To understand the mix of extremists in the Capitol melee, it helps to look at history. ___This story has been corrected to show that the “Texas Militia” group gathered at the Statehouse in Auston while Trump was at the Texas border.

The 2021 session of the Texas Legislature will commence Tuesday amid pervasive uncertainty. The Texas Department of Public Safety is reportedly deploying additional resources and personnel to the state Capitol, and Gov. The Senate, meanwhile, has been more tight-lipped on what precautions will be in place during the legislative session. Beyond that, debates over police funding and reforms following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed in Minneapolis police custody, are expected to play a central role during the legislative session. During his first session as lieutenant governor in 2015, the Senate dropped the threshold from two-thirds, or 21 members, to three-fifths, or 19 members.

Dade Phelan, presumptive speaker of the Texas House, sits down with The Texas Tribune for a live conversation on Jan. 11. Join The Texas Tribune at noon Central Jan. 11 for an interview with Dade Phelan, presumptive speaker of the Texas House, moderated by Tribune CEO Evan Smith. Phelan announced on Nov. 4 that he had secured enough votes to become speaker of the Texas House for the 2021 legislative session. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors.

Kathy Kratt of Orlando, Fla., displays her Trump flags as she and other protesters demonstrate their support for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Trump bemoaned the decision late Friday, tweeting: “The Supreme Court really let us down. Two days after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his suit, Trump jumped into the high court case. “If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!” he tweeted Friday afternoon. Many Republican voters in several states won by Biden have demanded that their elected officials find a way to invalidate the president-elect's victories.

No candidate cleared 50% of the vote in the respective races, and Georgia law requires a runoff in such cases. Earlier this week, Castro, the former U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, spent two days in Georgia stumping with both Ossoff and Warnock. Another high-profile Texas Republican, Crenshaw, has already visited the state and plans to return before the end of the month. The state party has been mobilizing volunteers on its Mighty Texas Strike Force to head to Georgia, with the largest deployment expected to happen after Christmas. In a sign of how the political world has gone all in on Georgia, the campaigners from Texas have not gone unnoticed by other out-of-state surrogates.

In his first few months as Texas GOP chairman, Allen West has sued fellow Republican Gov. He argues he has done just that, crisscrossing the state and raising money to help candidates ahead of the election. Hinojosa promptly declined, but the impression left with political observers was clearer than ever: He was not going to be the typical state party chairman. I think that he’s doing what the people that elected him at our convention wanted him to do.”Others on the State Republican Executive Committee are not so sure. “It’s not just Chairman West and the SREC — it’s all the grassroots folks who took the time to weigh in at our convention.

Allen West is chair of the Republican Party of Texas. Their mutual toothache’s name is Allen West, and he is the chair of the Republican Party of Texas. It is utterly absurd and demonstrably idiotic that any Republican would join with Democrats to lead our Republican majority (83-67) Texas State House,” West wrote. They hold all of the statewide elected offices, along with majorities in the Texas Senate and Texas House. The state Capitol, for all its problems, is still a place where political party isn’t always the first order of business.

AUSTIN, Texas – Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday threw his support behind a Texas House speaker candidate who Texas' GOP chairman called a “political traitor" for aligning with Democrats. Republican state Rep. Dade Phelan has claimed he has overwhelming support to become the new speaker when the Texas Legislature reconvenes in January. Abbott called Phelan is a “strong conservative” and praised his role in authoring and passing disaster relief legislation following Hurricane Harvey. His support came a day after Texas GOP Chairman Allen West claimed the party would “not support, nor accept” Phelan.

Phelan said last week he had support from a "supermajority of the Republican caucus" and a "broad coalition of support" from Democrats. West does not get to vote on the next speaker since he is not a House member. And past speaker candidates, including current Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, who will retire at the end of his term, have claimed support from Democrats in their bids to help get to a majority of votes needed to preside over the House. Phelan, who has served in the lower chamber since 2015 and chairs the powerful House State Affairs Committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Phelan filed paperwork to run for speaker after a group of GOP members gathered and picked the lawmaker as their preferred candidate.

Leaders from both state political parties joined us Sunday on Leading SA to reflect on the Texas elections and react to Joe Biden being named the president-elect. “I’m absolutely elated as a Black woman to see a Black woman be selected as vice president-elect; just means so much. While we have been shattering the glass ceiling because we still have work to do, we have definitely broken that ceiling,” Dr. Brailey said. “Absolutely not, because when you look at the policies being promoted by the Democrat Party, they are policies that are not beneficial to the great state of Texas,” West said. “Texas just was not quite ready to take that leap.”You can watch the full interviews with West and Brailey in the video player above.

Texas Republican Party Chair Allen West speaks to a crowd gathered at the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday to protest business closures and mask mandates. The "Free Texas" rally featured speeches from Texas GOP Chair Allen West and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, both of whom invoked the governor critically. "And if the governor did not get this resolution, I'm gonna leave it right here, at the gates of the Governor's Mansion." Alt text: Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller speaks to a crowd gathered in front of the Governor’s Mansion to protest statewide business closures and mask mandates. "I told him that true leaders don't pick and choose when they do what is right," West said.

Allen West at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2016 Credit: Erich Schlagel for The Texas TribuneTexas GOP Chair Allen West would like to see President Donald Trump visit the state again before Election Day to help rally support for down-ballot candidates, the Republican leader said during a Texas Tribune Festival interview that aired Tuesday. “I’ve got the message up to him,” West, a former Florida congressman, told the Tribune’s Patrick Svitek. “We’re seeing the Democrats really focus up here in North Texas, between Dallas County, Collin, Denton and Tarrant County for those state House seats,” West said, also referencing two contested congressional races in Texas’ 24th District and Texas’ 32nd District. West, who won the race for party chair in July, has at times openly disagreed with how Republican Gov. “We cannot live in a state where an executive believes that they can change established law by themselves.

In July, Abbott added six days to the early voting period, moving the start date up to Oct. 13 from Oct. 19, citing the coronavirus pandemic. West said in the same statement that he opposes the "extension of early voting through the decree of a single executive instead of through the legislative process." Using the same rationale, he previously extended early voting for the July primary runoffs. Abbott's expanded that option to the entire early voting period. Because the 17th day before this year's November election is a Saturday, the early voting period had been slated to commence the following Monday, Oct. 19.

But the ongoing attempts by the White House to sow doubt over the reliability of voting by mail has left Texas voters in a blur of cognitive dissonance. West and other prominent Texas Republicans have floated unsubstantiated concerns that increased mail-in voting creates opportunities for widespread voter fraud. Texas voters must also navigate a mismatch between the U.S. The Texas Democratic Party previously announced it was sending out more than 815,000 applications for mail-in ballots to eligible Texas voters in August. Court battles continueSixty days out from the election, the rules for voting by mail in Texas remain largely the same.

Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas TribuneIncoming Texas GOP Chairman Allen West is fairly new to Texas, but he is not new to national politics. But if prior phases of his career are any guide, he is likely to bring strong fundraising and controversy to the state GOP. "We need a warrior at the top of the helm of the Texas GOP going into this election cycle and to help lead Republicans." His career has taken many twists on the way to leading the Texas GOP. West launched his bid for Texas GOP chair last August, aiming to unseat Dickey, who has served as state Republican chair since 2017.

Congressman and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen West was elected Texas GOP chairman. Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas TribuneAllen West, the firebrand former Florida congressman, has defeated Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey to lead the country's largest state Republican Party. "It's time to make sure that the Republican Party of Texas is relevant again, that our message is out, that our message is being heard." The State Republican Executive Committee first elected Dickey to the post in 2017, after the resignation of his predecessor, Tom Mechler. Before chairing the state party, Dickey led the GOP in Travis County, home to Austin.