West says Trump’s support for Abbott “doesn’t hurt” his primary challenge against the Texas governor

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DALLAS – Outgoing Texas Republican Party chairman and former congressman Allen West insisted that former President Trump’s endorsement of Governor Greg Abbott “doesn’t hurt” his primary challenge in 2022 against the Republican governor for two terms.

“It has nothing to do with me because I’m preparing to run for governor of Texas,” West told Fox News before his speech this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas.

The West launches a Republican challenge against the Texas government. ABBOTT

Abbott faces major challenges from the right of the West, former Senator Don Hoffins, and political commentator Chad Brother. Havens addresses a crowd of conservative activists and leaders at the CPAC on Saturday, with West, a controversial and outspoken former congressman from Florida, speaking on Sunday.

CPAC Dallas booth for Texas Governor candidate and former Senator Dan Hoffins, in Dallas, Texas on July 9, 2021

The governor, who has been invited to speak at the CPAC in Dallas, will not attend because he resides in the state capital Austin, and is overseeing a special session of the Texas legislature he has requested to complete the remaining unfinished business from the regular session. On Saturday, an Abbott consultant told Fox News that the governor will brief state representatives and counties along the southern border with Texas on the state’s ongoing efforts to deal with the crisis on the US-Mexico border.

Abbott collaborates with Trump on an unfinished section of the US-Mexico border wall

Abbott recently pledged to finish building a border wall that began under the administration of former President Trump, amid a surge in migrants crossing the border this year. A week and a half ago, she made national headlines when he joined Trump for an event on an unfinished section of the Texas border wall.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, right, listens to former President Donald Trump, left, during a visit to an unfinished section of the border wall, in Farr, Texas, Wednesday, June 30, 2021 (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

West said the “need to protect those borders” was a major reason behind his decision to run for governor, and that his first stop after launching his campaign a week ago was along the southern border.

He also criticized the governor for what he called “largely the failure of a legislative session”.

Abbott has made headlines in the past six weeks — signing bills that would restrict the teaching of critical race theory in his state and allow Texas to carry guns without a license. A key item on his to-do list for state lawmakers during the special legislative session, which began Thursday, is to pass GOP-backed legislation toughening voting access rules, which was scrapped at the end of the regular session due to Democrats’ withdrawal. legislators.

Abbott has become one of the biggest thorns in Biden’s side

Some Texas Republicans say Abbott’s muscular moves are an attempt to protect his right flank, after he came under much fire last year from governors angry in Texas over mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions on businesses. The governor was also attacked earlier this year over the state’s handling of a deadly winter storm, which caused an electrical grid collapse that left millions of Texans freezing in frigid temperatures.

West, who is now stepping down as the Republican Party leader in Texas after challenging the governor, last year took the highly unusual step of publicly criticizing Abbott’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. West told Fox News that “a lot of Texans weren’t happy” with the governor’s coronavirus restrictions.

When asked about Trump’s endorsement of Abbott, West replied that “it doesn’t hurt me at all and doesn’t worry me at all. In fact, there have been several grassroots organizations in Texas that have asked the president to rescind his endorsement of Abbott Governor.”

FILE – In this November 14, 2020, Texas Republican Party Chairman Allen West, right, speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump during a rally in front of City Hall in Dallas. West announced Friday, June 4, 2021, that he would be stepping down less than a year in a combative period to challenge his party’s top leaders, including leading a protest outside Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s mansion. (AP Photo/LM Otero file)

“The bottom line is I run to serve God, to serve the country, to serve Texas. It’s not about serving President Trump. I know him personally, but if he feels like he wants to endorse Greg Abbott, that’s fine,” West emphasized. . “It has nothing to do with me as I prepare to run for governor of Texas.”

David Carney, a longtime political advisor at Abbott, said campaign politics were not a catalyst behind the governor’s outburst.

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“We don’t have any focus on all the conversations,” Carney told Fox News recently. “We are 100% confident that we know where Republican voters are in the primaries. We are not at all worried about the primaries.”

The governor’s re-election campaign announced Thursday that it raised nearly $19 million in the last ten days of June and now has $55 million in cash, an eye-catching number.

West, who was a very successful fundraiser during his tenure in Congress, said raising enough money to stay competitive “shouldn’t be a problem.”

West offered: “A decade ago I raised $19 million as a new congressman. I definitely knew my name and my face.” “You want to get paid so you can get the message across.”

But West, who served in the Gulf War and the Iraq War before retiring from the US Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel, added, “I think I can get the message across without a big war chest because people want to hear the message of constitutional conservatism.”

When asked if he thought the governor made a mistake by not speaking at the CPAC this weekend, West replied “You have to ask the governor about it. I won’t make any assessments about him speaking or not speaking at the CPAC. I’m humbled to get a chance to come back again.” other to the stage at CPAC.”

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“I think the only downside to not going to CPAC is that it gives Allen West and Don Havens the ability to launch attacks on the governor without an answer,” veteran Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser told Fox News.

But Steinhauser, a Tea Party veteran who later led campaigns for two Lone Star state Republicans — Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Representative Dan Crenshaw — said that “all the data so far points to the idea that Abbott is not in serious trouble now.”

Referring to the governor’s approval ratings among Texas Republicans, his support from Trump, and his huge military chest, he said Abbott is “currently on very solid ground…we’ll see if any of these guys get any traction. I’m not a betting guy but I don’t think I would bet today that he would lose.”

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