We confirm what The Shark Tank confirmed what we heard earlier: Rep. Allen West is to run in Rep. Tom Rooney's Congressional District, which is being redrawn with all the others in Florida. Rooney is going to run in one of the two new Congressional districts in South Florida that stretches from Martin County into Charlotte County.
Expect a West endorsement of Rooney.
Here's what we told you Nov. 30:
It's tough getting elected as a Republican in the People's Republic of Broward County, one of the bluest stretches of Florida's political real estate. Still, US Rep. Allen West pulled it off in 2010, when he bested Rep. Ron Klein.
But now the Florida Senate's proposed map for Congressional seats indicate it could be even tougher for the tea-party favorite to win District 22. The proposed district is 4 percent more Democratic than it currently is.
And that could be bad news for Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.
"Allen's strongly considering making a move," said a highly placed source affiliated with West's camp. "It's not a big move, just a few miles away."
West's best move -- running for U.S. Senate -- still appears to be off the table. But West gave it a second thought recently, another source said. And he could jump in that race, though it's less likely.
I'm sure Rooney will be moving to the new Port Charlotte based safe Republican seat. After all, he represents Port Charlotte in the current map.
I can't wait to see Adam Hasner jump into FL-22. If anyone can beat Frankel or Murphy, it's him.
Remember, Connie Mack was a State Rep from "the People's Republic of Broward" before moving to Naples to run for his dad's old seat.
Posted by: NTTrev | January 31, 2012 at 05:21 PM
Look at West run. First, he whined about *not* having his district gerrymandered to ensure a win, and when that didn't work, he runs to a more safe district.
Vote him out.
Posted by: Just say no to Rs | January 31, 2012 at 05:36 PM
he's running as fast as he can from 22nd, cause he can't win, to 18th where we must knock him on his butt!
Posted by: larry lesser | January 31, 2012 at 07:17 PM
around 25% of his current district is in the new FL-18
Posted by: Joe | February 01, 2012 at 01:22 AM
Jim Horn was a strong Democratic candidate in District 16 getting 80K votes in an strong republican year. He is a conservative Democrat and a local horse rancher. I hope that he doesn't run against West as the Republicans could lose a seat.
Posted by: Paul Martin | February 01, 2012 at 01:56 PM
ALLEN WEST IS THE KIND OF RADICAL TEA PARTY REPUBLICAN THAT THE VOTERS DESERVE BETTER...HIS MILITARY SERVICE CONFIRMED HIS IGNORANCE & INCOMPENCE AS A LEADER..VOTE HIM OUT..
Posted by: marvin powers | February 04, 2012 at 09:51 PM