Texas State Republican Party chairman Allen West appeared as a speaker at a forum for local candidates in Leander Saturday night.
West, a former Florida congressman, spoke about his priorities for the legislative session, and spoke about his background for nearly an hour to over a hundred guests of the organization Williamson County We The People in Leander.
He posed for photographs and signed two of his books for the overwhelmingly Republican gathering before the free event.
He spoke in favor of the right of gun owners to carry defensive weapons without a permit in Texas, something he said 16 other states have already passed through their Legislatures, saying, "you shouldn't have to have a permit to exercise your constitutional rights."
He also spoke out against gender modification procedures, including prescribing hormones, for minor children.
And he also urged the crowd to support school choice, saying that as a youth growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, he had the advantage of going to a private school of his parent's choosing in the early 1960s, just down the street from Dr. Martin Luther King's home church.
He said parents should have the right to do the same today, but Democrats are forbidding students from leaving public schools that are underperforming.
"Once upon a time, the Democrat Party stood outside time schoolhouse doors keeping black kids out. Now they stand on the inside keeping them in."
He said opposing abortion and supporting the right to life, "is a problem we've got to solve.
West said that it was imperative for Republicans to get involved in the election process, and said he had been called the n word, an Uncle Tom, and worse. But said he was never affected by words because he had been a combat veteran who has been shot at in battle.
While he is often spoken of as a potential candidate for governor against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, with whom he has clashed recently over the statewide mask mandate,
the party's use of the Gab social media site, and other issues, he said he was focusing on his legislative agenda for now.
"But after the legislative session, I will pray heavily on this, and seek God's guidance."
West has come under fire by Gov. Abbott and GOP Vice Chair Cat Parks for focusing on hot-button conservative issues as agenda points, with Parks saying that the party should appeal to a broader electorate.
After West left, the group hosted a forum for local city council candidates in Leander, Cedar Park, and Round Rock, in which each candidate stood to make a short speech and take questions.
Fiery accusations flew between Leander Mayor Troy Hill, who is seeking re-election, and fellow City Councilor Christine Senderquist, who is challenging Hill.
Senderquist spelled out her experience in the Republican Party, while she and others criticized Hill for his handling of the recent ice storm, in which one of the city's water plants was left without water because of a lack of electricity. Hill and others said they were not at fault for the outages.
She, in turn, was attacked by Hill and audience members for her support for the mask manate, for making a motion for the council to support a diversity training event, and her support and participation in a "drag queen story hour" at Leander's public library.
She said she put the diversity training on the council's agenda at the behest of the Chamber of Commerce and believed strongly in citizens' free speech rights.
Candidate for Cedar Park City Council Claudia Chavez spoke passionately about the need to vet candidates claiming to be conservatives, and urged those assembled to speak the truth boldly.
Speaking via video were Cedar Park City council candidates Dorian Chavez, Claudia's husband, who is seeking a separate seat, and political newcomer Colin Klein.
Round Rock City Councilor Matt Baker also spoke, telling the crowd that his mother had pioneered the right to homeschool children in Texas and other States, and that his wife homeschools their three children.
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