GOP candidate Allen West's bid to take over the NRA ends in humiliating failure

On Monday, gun policy journalist Stephen Gutowski reported that far-right activist Allen West's bid to unseat Wayne LaPierre as the National Rifle Association's executive vice president has flamed out spectacularly.

According to Gutowski, West, himself a board member of the NRA, got only a single vote at the board meeting, with 54 members voting to retain LaPierre and 7 members abstaining.

The vote marks a long string of embarrassments for West, a one-time Tea Party darling who was elected to Congress in Florida in 2010 and unseated after a single term.

After relocating to Texas, West briefly served as chair of the Texas Republican Party, but resigned after 11 months of fighting with fellow GOP leaders and causing controversy by speaking at a QAnon conference in Dallas. West then mounted a primary challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott, whom he had publicly protested for briefly issuing COVID-19 emergency orders. He lost that race by 54 points.

He first raised the possibility of challenging LaPierre for control of the NRA at the beginning of May, ahead of the organization's convention in Houston.

This comes as LaPierre himself has come under increasing controversy. He is one of several NRA executives mired in legal battles over allegations of self-enrichment and the use of nonprofit funds for luxury travel and other personal expenses. New York Attorney General Letitia James has sought to have him barred from serving on the board under New York charity law — which the NRA tried to dodge by reincorporating in Texas under bankruptcy proceedings, only for a judge to block the plan.