Allen West, a Republican congressman from Florida, is a fundraising powerhouse.
During the third quarter of 2011 he raised $1.9 million for his re-election campaign. More than 42,000 individuals contributed to this impressive number, staff member Catherine Faulkner confirmed to Townhall.
In the battleground state of Florida, this shows that there's a market for West, who touts himself as a "constitutional conservative."
Still only in the first calendar year of his term, West's Tea Party conservatism has already made him a target of the Democrats. West finds this unsurprising, as a Republican African-American, he confessed, "I scare the liberal establishment.”
The elephantine dollar amount certainly must be alarming to his opponents, but the broad support these numbers reflect may be more daunting. The average contribution, according to West's campaign, was $47.
West has been very vocal during the infancy of his political career, chosen to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, fervently defending Israel, and expressing concern over the "neutering" of American men.
Hailing from a rather polarized district, his conservative stands could be seen as risky. But so far it has worked in his favor. In a New York Times piece published in April, Jennifer Steinhauer reports that West's "Star Power" is becoming a national phenomenon.
This race for the 22nd Congressional District of Florida will prove to be interesting, and West's voice certainly won't be softened by financial limitations.
(This post was authored by Mary Crookston)