Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West will not be prosecuted over an altercation involving face masks at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a court official told The Dallas Morning News.
West, who is the former Texas Republican Party chairman and a former congressman from Florida, said that in November he was walking without a mask through the airport terminal, where it is required to wear a face covering over the mouth and nose, when a man called him an idiot for not wearing one.
West's campaign had said the candidate walked over to the man, Lawrence Stern, and flicked off his mask, with West later tweeting that he told him, “See, nothing happened.”
Stern, who said West “violently” ripped the mask from his face, wanted him to be charged for his actions, although he admitted that he was not injured during the incident, according to the Morning News.
West is a strident opponent of vaccine and mask mandates.
Police at the airport took a report over the incident.
The GOP primary for the governor race is being held on March 1, with early voting continuing until this Friday. In the latest poll, released on Sunday by the Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler, West is in second place in the Republican primary, but has only 7% support and is more than 50 percentage points behind the frontrunner, Gov. Greg Abbott.
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