Mr. West’s spats with Governor Greg Abbott over his handling of the pandemic and with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick over gun legislation have led to speculation that he will mount a primary challenge to one of them.
Allen West, a transplanted one-term Florida congressman and right-wing provocateur, announced his resignation on Friday as chairman of the Texas Republican Party, possibly as a precursor to running for statewide office. Mr. West, a former Army officer who was forced to retire after firing a handgun near the head of a prisoner in Iraq, said at a news conference in Whitehouse, Texas, that he was considering running for office. “Maybe something congressional,” he suggested. He had served in the job for less than a year. In that short time, Mr. West — a Fox News fixture who attended an event in Dallas last month at which Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald J.
