Republican Texas Gubernatorial Candidate Allen West Hospitalized With COVID-19

Former Rep. Allen West talks to the media after meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence at Trump Tower in New York City on Dec. 5, 2016. (Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)

Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate Allen West said he’s “doing great” after he was hospitalized with COVID-19 over the weekend.

“No complaints. I’m just relaxing,” West told The Associated Press, saying he was hospitalized in Plano, a Dallas suburb. The Republican former lawmaker said he is awaiting the results of a chest X-ray.

West and his wife, Angela, were diagnosed with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus after attending a fundraising event in Seabrook, Texas, last week but added that he is “suspending in-person events until receiving an all-clear indication.”

“I want to thank all of you for your prayers. Angela and I just completed the monoclonal antibody infusion therapy and are in the observation period. There’s a concern about my oxygen saturation levels, which are at 89 and they should be at 95,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that he is suffering from “not serious” COVID-19-related pneumonia.

A post on West’s Facebook account stated he was taking hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to deal with COVID-19 symptoms.

West, a former Republican lawmaker and Army lieutenant colonel, “has publicly stated he supports individual choice and this is reflected in his own family” regarding COVID-19 vaccines, according to a Twitter post from West’s Twitter.

And, he added, “after this experience, I am even more dedicated to fighting against vaccine mandates. Instead of enriching the pockets of Big Pharma and corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, we should be advocating the monoclonal antibody infusion therapy.

“As Governor of Texas,” West continued, “I will vehemently crush anyone forcing vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State. There are far better protocols that individual citizens can utilize and decide for themselves.”

West, a Tea Party favorite, won a House seat in Florida in 2010 but didn’t win his reelection bid two years later. Before announcing his run for governor against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, West was head of the Texas Republican Party.

Last fall, he joined a protest against Abbott’s then-COVID-19 restrictions. He also sued the governor for extending early voting.

“Cecilia and I are sending well wishes to Allen and Angela. You are in our prayers. Get well soon,” Abbott wrote in a Twitter post in reference to West’s diagnosis. In August, Abbott said he contracted COVID-19 but tested negative several days later.