Allen West, the chair of the Texas GOP, has announced his plans to challenge incumbent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for the Republican nomination in the 2022 midterm elections. West is ending his time as GOP chair amid many controversies, including calling a cancer-surviving colleague a “delusional and apparently deranged.” Still, the former attorney general has announced his plans to run for governor against the incumbent.
In his announcement video, West claimed he couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer.
“I have not been in elective political office for about a decade,” West said. “But I can no longer sit on the sidelines and see what has happened in these United States of America, what is happening in the place that I call home.”
Watch his campaign announcement below.
West will step down as chair on July 11, when the State Republican Executive Committee will select his successor. Critics have noted that this time overlap is a conflict of interest and have asked for his immediate removal rather than waiting for his term to finish.
Abbott has yet to respond to West’s political attacks.
