Having already compared himself to Harriet Tubman, recently-defeated Tea Party congressman Allen West is linking his legacy to another revered figure in American history.
During an interview on National Public Radio, West suggested that his loss after his first term in Congress put him in the same company as America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.
“Abraham Lincoln only served one term in Congress, too,” West reminded his interviewer.
West has already been courted by Georgia Republicans to mount a campaign in that state, but he rebuffed them saying he’s not an “NFL free agent.”
“God closes a door so that he can open up greater doors. I will continue to, you know, stand up and fight for this country. That’s my goal. I have two daughters, 19 and 16, and I want to make sure that they grow up in a great America that provides them all the opportunities that it provided to their mother and father,” West said in his NPR interview.
West narrowly lost his seat on November 6th to Democrat Patrick Murphy. After weeks of refusing to concede and pushing for recount, West finally admitted defeat on November 20th.