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Is Congress Ready for Allen West 2.0?

Bill Randall, African-American Tea Party candidate from North Carolina, says people like him are a threat to Democrats.

By Joyce Jones

Posted: 04/30/2012 02:16 PM EDT

Filed Under tea party, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama, Congress, President Obama, Allen West, Tim Scott, Republican Party, Politics News, 2012 Election

Barack Obama, tea party, President Barack Obama, President Obama, Congress, Allen West, Republican Party, Politics News, 2012 Election

(Photo: Courtesy randallforcongress.com)

There are currently two kinds of African-American Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. One is like South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott, who hasn’t become headline news, but is quietly building a leadership base. Then there’s the firebrand Florida Rep. Allen West, who doesn’t mince his often eyebrow-raising words or apologize for them either.

Next week, Congress may be poised to get a third if Bill Randall wins his May 8 primary contest to represent North Carolina in the House, although he already seems more á la West.

This is Randall’s second congressional bid. His 2010 loss to a Democrat stopped him from being a part of Scott and West’s freshman class. But according to a Washington Times report, his former opponent isn’t running for re-election, and the district has been redrawn in a way that makes it more favorable for a Republican candidate. He also has two GOP challengers who, like Randall, say they’re “true conservatives.”

Randall, a Tea Party candidate, wasn’t always conservative, but as he told the Washington Times, left-wing liberals such as President Obama drove him to it. And it was during Obama’s administration that he turned to conservative activism.

The retired Navy Command Master Chief also sees himself as a bit of a triple threat and reckons that Democrats do, too.

"The Tea Party is something that liberals fear, so they're trying to discredit it," Randall said. "One of the labels that have been put on the Tea Party is they're racist. When you have a Black, conservative, Tea Party Republican…that's a threat."

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