Allen West Biography
Allen West( Full name: Allen Bernard West)is an American political commentator, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, author, and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party West represented Florida’s 22nd congressional district in the House from (2011 – 2013).
Allen was deployed to Kuwait in 1991 and Iraq in 2003. In 2003, he was charged in an incident that involved the beating and simulated execution of an Iraqi policeman. 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 military, he 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. He entered politics in 2008 as the Republican nominee for Florida’s 22nd congressional district in 2008, losing to Democratic incumbent Ron Klein. In a re-match in 2010, he won the seat, coinciding with significant Republican gains in the 2010 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, was a high-profile member of the Tea Party Caucus and the Tea Party movement.
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 race in U.S. history at the time. He is a contributor for Fox News.
Allen West Age
Allen Bernard West is an American political commentator, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, author, and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was born on February 7.1961 in Atlanta, GA. Bernard is 58 years old as of2019.
Allen West Family
Bernard was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Elizabeth “née Thomas; 1931–1994” and Herman West, Sr. “1920–1986”. His father and older brother were both career military officers; His’s father served in World War II, and his brother served in Vietnam. His mother was a civilian employee of the United States Marine Corps.
Allen West Wife
He is married to Angela M. Graham after he divorced with his first wife Gayle Mosby. West and Angela joined the knot on December 24. 1989. The bride holds a Ph.D. in education from Kansas State University and received a gubernatorial appointment to the board of trustees of Florida Atlantic University.
The couple has two daughters. West and his family moved to Texas after he became CEO of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis in January 2015. West belong to the Christian religion.
He is a certified master scuba diver, motorcycle enthusiast and honorary member of the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. He was a co-host for Troopathon 2013.
Allen West Net Worth
West has an estimated net worth of $175,500 thousand dollars as of 2019. In 2012 he had invested in the following top industries. He had Real Estate which amounted to $375,000 thousand dollars and Principal Financial Group RT of $32,500 thousand dollars value.
Allen West Education
In the tenth grade, he joined the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and entered the Army in 1983 when he graduated from the University of Tennessee. West is the third of four consecutive generations in his family to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
West later received a master’s degree in political science from Kansas State University. He also earned a master of military arts and sciences degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer College in political theory and military history and operations.
Allen West Facebook
Allen West Books
2018 – Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory Or Death
2014 – Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family, and Freedom
Allen West For President
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2008
United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2008 § District 22
In 2006, 25-year incumbent Republican E. Clay Shaw, Jr. was defeated by Democrat Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. West entered politics in 2008 to regain the lost House seat, challenging freshman incumbent Klein.
He received the Republican nomination without opposition. However, he lost to Klein by a margin of 9.4% of the votes. The official results were Klein with 169,041 votes (54.7%), West with 140,104 votes (45.3%), and write-in candidate Michael Prysner with 6 votes.
2010
United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2010 § District 22
West spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 20.2010, and was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. West was one of 32 African-American Republican candidates for Congress in 2010.
He said he supported the Tea Party movement and rejected the notion that the movement was motivated by racism, saying the accusation was a creation of liberal critics and the news media. He has been described as a “tea party star” became a member of the congressional Tea Party Caucus in February 2011.
In September 2010, the Florida Democratic Party produced a flyer that contained West’s unredacted Social Security number. While the party called it an “oversight” and offered to pay for identity theft protection, West harshly condemned the flyer for exposing his family to identity theft.
West defeated incumbent Ron Klein by a margin of 8.8%. West, along with newly elected Tim Scott, was the first African-American Republicans in Congress since J.C. Watts retired in 2003. West raised $5.4 million for his campaign, while his incumbent opponent raised $2.5 million. According to West, “…over 97 percent of our donations have come from individual contributions.”
2012
United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2012 § District 18
Allen speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C.
West raised more than $1.5 million in the 2011 second quarter to support his 2012 reelection bid. The National Journal’s Cook Political Report in 2011 named West one of the top 10 Republicans most vulnerable to redistricting in 2012.
Redistricting made the 22nd, which already had a modest Democratic lean, even more Democratic. West faced the prospect of running against West Palm Beach mayor Lois Frankel in the general election. On February 1. 2012, West announced that he would run for reelection in the neighboring 18th District. That district had previously been the 16th, represented by fellow Republican Tom Rooney.
However, Rooney opted to seek reelection in the newly created 17th District, a move that was considered likely to dramatically improve West’s chances of reelection, although it was still a competitive race.
In the new district, West received a primary challenge from Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder. West did not debate Crowder and said: “debating an uninformed opponent would waste voters’ time”. Incumbent West defeated Crowder in a landslide, receiving 74.4% of the vote.
His general election opponent was Democrat Patrick Murphy, a political newcomer, and a Republican until 2011. The campaign featured several negative ads, including one released by American Sunrise PAC that was extremely critical of West’s policies and depicted him in violent cartoon action against several individuals.
He issued a statement condemning the ad, stating that it “plays on stereotypes” with the goal of diverting Americans from more pressing matters at hand such as high unemployment. He claimed the ad was released by the family of his opponent. The campaign manager of his opponent said the ad was from a third party and therefore held no liability for it.
After primary opponent Crowder endorsed Murphy, a spokesman of the West campaign said “Crowder is a Democrat and a sore loser. I’m shocked he waited this long. Perhaps Crowder hopes to continue cozying up to local Democrats so he can be their nominee against Allen West in 2014.”
Initial vote counts showed Murphy defeating West by a narrow margin of 2,000 votes. West did not concede, citing irregularities in St. Lucie County where some early ballots may have been counted twice.
Florida state election officials unofficially certified Murphy as the winner, A partial recount of early ballots cast between November 1 and 3, 2012, in St. Lucie County slightly decreased the margin separating the candidates, and the West campaign sought further recounts.
He said that if the final results show a loss, he would not cling to his title as a member of Congress, but wanted to ensure a fair election was carried out, raising the potential of a protracted legal battle.
As of the November 18 state deadline, the St. Lucie County election officials had not completed a recount of all of the early ballots, and so the previously submitted vote count which showed Murphy as the winner by 2,146 votes was submitted to the state election officials.
The West campaign conceded the election on November 20.2012. Meanwhile, Frankel went on to victory in the 22nd.
Tweets by AllenWest
Allen West Post-congressional career
On May 16. 2013, Fox News announced it had hired West as a contributor to offer political commentary during the network’s daytime and primetime shows.
Following the Charleston church shooting in 2015, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called for the Confederate Battle flag to be removed from a memorial outside the state capital.
West referred to the debate over the flag as a “manufactured crisis” invented by liberals to distract from black-on-black violence. On December 9. 2016, West’s official Facebook page posted that Trump had selected James Mattis as Secretary of Defense to exterminate Muslims. Michele Hickford, the editor-in-chief of West’s website, removed the post, apologized to readers, claimed she did not post it, took responsibility as editor-in-chief, and stated West had no part in the post.
In 2014 column, West described himself as a classical liberal.
West is a Life and Endowment Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). In May 2016, he reported that he had been elected as a member of the NRA Board of Directors for a three-year term.
He was an Executive Director and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a free-market public policy research organization.
In September 2015, West was nominated to the Sunset Advisory Commission, which oversees the need for Texas state agencies, as the Texas Senate’s appointed public member.