On Texas GOP primary ballots, Don Huffines and Allen West are technically opponents who each want to unseat Republican Gov. next week. But on the campaign trail, they鈥檝e largely put up a united front as they appear together at events across the state with platforms that are nearly indistinguishable as they portray Abbott as insufficiently conservative.
That tactic doesn鈥檛 seem to be garnering either of them enough support to unseat the incumbent. Abbott is expected to easily fend off all of his intraparty candidates in the March 1 primary and avoid a runoff for the party nomination, according to a .
But for Huffines and West 鈥� the two most vocal and well known of Abbott鈥檚 GOP challengers 鈥� losing the nomination won鈥檛 necessarily mean they鈥檝e lost ground in the larger goal both have long tried to achieve: moving the Republican party further to the right.
Their platforms call for drastically reducing property taxes or eliminating them outright. They say they would replace that revenue, which funds everything from Texas schools and city streets to local governments, with a much larger consumption tax 鈥� though neither candidate has named the amount by which they鈥檇 want to raise Texas鈥� 6.25% state sales tax. They also would send more troops to the state鈥檚 southern border 鈥� beyond the 10,000 Texas National Guard members already deployed under Abbott鈥檚 Operation Lone Star. And they want to let parents use tax dollars to subsidize private or charter school education for their children.
Brendan Steinhauser, a political strategist and professor of political science at St. Edward鈥檚 University in Austin, said those policy choices are key to the pair鈥檚 shared goal of taking Abbott鈥檚 job.
鈥淭hey're looking to get to his right because they know that's the key to winning a Republican primary,鈥� Steinhauser said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking to move the debate to their ground.鈥�
Huffines, the former state senator, and West, the former chair of the Republican Party of Texas, have each taken different roads to become chief intraparty critics of the sitting governor. And they鈥檝e long exhibited vastly different styles and motivations in their bids for public office, according to both friends and political foes.
Huffines, a former real estate developer from Dallas, is known as someone who actually lives by the conservative values he espouses, according to those who know him.
鈥淚 think he's just an honest person,鈥� said Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. 鈥淭oday, sometimes that's hard to understand because you don't hear much truth from politicians 鈥� all we hear are lies and innuendos.鈥�
West, on the other hand, is a former Florida congressman known as a brash and strategic man who uses his attention-grabbing persona to build a loyal fan base.
In the past year, that personality has been on display as he challenged a reporter in the Texas Capitol to a pushup competition and attended a protest against mask mandates outside the Texas Governor鈥檚 Mansion with a megaphone in hand.
鈥淗e relished people asking him about why he was doing something,鈥� said Mitch Ceasar, who served as chair of the Broward County Democratic Party during West鈥檚 congressional term in that part of Florida. 鈥淧art of his intelligence is his desire to stake out a niche that's a little further out there than anybody else to get attention.鈥�
From a military career to politics
During West鈥檚 22 years in the military, he was deployed during the Gulf War and the Iraq War and achieved the title of lieutenant colonel. His military career ended after he was found guilty in 2003 of Uniform Code of Military Justice violations, including assault. According to testimony delivered in a hearing, soldiers under West鈥檚 command assaulted an Iraqi civilian. West subsequently threatened the man鈥檚 life and fired at least one shot inches from his head. West retired a few months later.
"I know the method I used was not right, but I wanted to take care of my soldiers," West testified during the investigation of the events, . 鈥淚f it's about the lives of my soldiers at stake, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can."
West did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
After retiring from the military in 2004, West moved to Florida, where he taught history and coached track at a public high school south of Palm Beach before moving on to work for a defense contractor. Although Allen won the Republican primary for Florida鈥檚 22nd congressional district in 2008, he lost the general election, his first matchup against Ron Klein, by nearly 10 points. During the tea party movement鈥檚 first wave in the early 2010s, he gained traction on a platform against Obama-era policies like the Affordable Health Care Act (which had passed the previous year) and won against Klein by nearly 9 points.
Richard DeNapoli, the former chair of the Republican Party of Broward County, said West has a knack for eliciting loyalty from GOP voters.
鈥淚 never saw that many volunteers except for when he ran,鈥� DeNapoli said. 鈥淧eople got invested in Allen West.鈥�
West won the 2010 race and during his first term voted to repeal 鈥淥bamacare鈥� and called for an investigation into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Ceasar, the local Democratic party chair, said the freshman lawmaker was known in South Florida鈥檚 political circles for his outspoken comments calling U.S. House Democrats communists and comparing himself to Harriet Tubman.
West served only one term, though, after redistricting drew him out of his district and he lost a bid for another term in Congress. In 2014, he moved to Texas. The state first garnered his admiration after he saw the 1960 film 鈥淭he Alamo鈥� starring John Wayne, West wrote in his 2018 book 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淚 was simply enthralled with men who would make a stand for freedom,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚 will stand for conservative values and conservative success until the end, and I will make my stand in Texas.鈥�
After West did stints at conservative Texas think tanks, Lt. Gov. appointed him in 2015 to the state鈥檚 Sunset Advisory Commission, which evaluates governmental agencies and makes recommendations to improve their efficiency, sometimes by shutting them down. Then in 2020, West as chair of the Republican Party of Texas.
Houston attorney Mark McCaig said the Texas GOP under West鈥檚 leadership was more interested in attacking Republican officials than in communicating the party鈥檚 successes. In one instance of infighting, West led a protest outside Abbott鈥檚 home in October 2020 demanding pandemic restrictions be lifted immediately 鈥� in spite of Abbott鈥檚 announcement days before that major restrictions would be lifted the following week.
West stepped down as GOP chair last year after announcing his bid to officially challenge Abbott in this year鈥檚 primary.
West has campaigned across the state in an oversized, double-decker bus that matches his outsized personality. At campaign stops, West flexes his master鈥檚 degree in philosophy as he fits quotes from Karl Marx, Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Constitution, the Bible and a rolodex of military history into a matter of minutes.
At several candidate forums in January, West wielded his personal experiences in the military to empathize with the Texas National Guard troops who have described after Abbott to stem a flow of migrants crossing into the United States.
鈥淭hey don't have a defined task and purpose; they're just down there as bystanders, and they're away from their families,鈥� he said at a candidate forum in Lake Travis last month, referring to the of some Texas National Guard troops since they were deployed late last year.
West has also criticized Abbott for his pandemic response that reduced capacity or closed Texas businesses in 2020. He鈥檚 recently referenced Florida on the campaign trail after Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed , like vaccine requirements and mask mandates. West鈥檚 comparisons between Texas and Florida came even though Abbott has also opposed mask mandates and vaccine requirements, .
鈥淚'm sick and tired of all my friends that I have back there in Florida calling me and telling me how great Ron DeSantis is doing and how great Florida鈥檚 doing when Texas, the Lone Star, should be leading the other 49 stars on that flag,鈥� West said in Lake Travis last month.
Leaning on legislative experience
Huffines, the former state senator, has already appeared successful in on a number of hot-button topics, including pandemic-era safety mandates, border security and health care access for transgender children.
Huffines was born into a wealthy and influential North Texas family. and became involved with politics as a member of several statewide commissions. Huffines鈥� twin brother also for Texas Senate against Angela Paxton in 2018 and served a brief stint as the chair of the Dallas County GOP in 2016.
Although he was involved with several Republican campaigns, including Paul鈥檚, through the early 2000s, Huffines鈥� political involvement was limited until after his father died in 2009, around the same time the tea party movement picked up steam.
Then, in 2014, he decided to run for office and took aim at a state Senate seat in North Texas. It pitted him against longtime Republican John Carona, who鈥檇 been in the Senate for 19 years. Huffines accused the incumbent of being a 鈥渃areer politician鈥� who was primarily looking out for himself.
鈥淚鈥檓 tired of being on the sidelines,鈥� Huffines said as he announced the campaign in late 2013.
and won the general election. But he said his frustration with intraparty politics solidified during his first GOP caucus meeting shortly after inauguration.
鈥淭hey just get this brainwashing going on that elected office holders down there are the elitists of the world 鈥� and our loyalty lies with our fellow club members; it doesn't lie with the voters,鈥� Huffines told The Texas Tribune.
The experience influenced his entire term in the Legislature鈥檚 upper chamber.
鈥淢y battle was generally with Republicans when I was there. It wasn't necessarily with the Democrats,鈥� Huffines said. 鈥淚t was mainly with Republicans because they're always trying not to be accountable, not to take the hard vote, because they campaign one way and they want to govern a different way.鈥�
In his first term, Huffines co-authored an early version of the bill that 鈥� which was . Huffines also pushed legislation that would have made it more difficult to pass bonds, commonly used to fund projects in Texas school districts, by requiring 30% of all voters on the voter registration rolls cast a ballot even though such elections are known to draw out a small fraction of voters.
In 2017, he introduced a bill that would have allowed Texans to carry a firearm without a permit. He also authored resolutions that would have limited terms of the governor and other statewide elected officials to two four-year terms and would limit state legislators to 12 years in either chamber. Those bills didn鈥檛 pass, but after Huffines himself was ousted from the Senate.
In spite of the limited success of his own legislation, Huffines maintains that he delivered on his campaign promises like saving taxpayer dollars by fighting to , a bus transportation agency, which was investigated by the FBI and ultimately shut down for mismanagement.
But Huffines was unseated in 2018 by Democrat Nathan Johnson. He believes Huffines鈥� views are heartfelt, but said that鈥檚 what makes him an untenable candidate for Senate District 16 voters.
鈥淗uffines, in an odd sort of way to his credit, shares and stands by his convictions,鈥� Johnson wrote in a 2017 Facebook post. 鈥淓ach day more SD 16 residents learn that his convictions make for harmful public policy.鈥�
Like West, Huffines hasn鈥檛 shied away from controversial remarks. Last month, he referred to COVID-19 as 鈥渢he Wuhan鈥� 鈥� a reference to the Chinese city where the virus was first discovered 鈥� while answering a question about vaccine and mask mandates.
Referring to the coronavirus by its place of origin rather than its scientific name has been since the pandemic began. And Huffines鈥� references came after the number of .
Later during that panel, while answering a question about competition in the U.S. job market between domestic and international workers, Huffines without evidence accused Chinese international students of partaking in espionage.
鈥淥ne thing we've got a lot in our graduate programs in the universities here, and our Ph.D. programs, is a lot of communist Chinese students,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey're taking all of that information back.鈥�
Last month, Jake Lloyd Colglazier, a staffer on Huffines鈥� campaign, was revealed to have made comments about white supremacy on YouTube and other social media platforms.
In response, Huffines said because he does not believe in 鈥渃ancel culture.鈥� But Huffines distanced himself from the staffer, saying that he has more than 70 people on his payroll and did not know Colglazier.
In spite of his similarities to West and other candidates, Huffines maintains that he stands out among the field.
鈥淚'm the only candidate running for governor that's been in the Legislature, been in the swamp as I say, and I can tell you I could not imagine being governor without having that experience,鈥� he said.
