Allen West Showcases Jorge Bonilla's Bid Against Alan Grayson

While he is not running in 2014, former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., plans to back 14 Republicans in the 2014 election cycle through his Allen West Guardian Fund PAC. West plans to back veterans and minorities running as conservative Republicans. While the PAC did not endorse Navy veteran Jorge Bonilla, who also served in the Marines Reserves, this week, West did showcase his campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., in November. The PAC included Bonilla on its Ones to Watch.

"Jorge, like others, has come to realize that his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, has no statute of limitations, West insisted this week. He has therefore made the tough, personal, family decision to run for U.S. Congress in Floridas 9th District.

Noting that running against Rep. Alan Grayson is an uphill climb, West compared it to a famous World War II action. So was Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima, but American Marines climbed it, inch by bloody inch, and raised our American flag above it in triumph, West noted. Jorge Bonilla represents that spirit -- a military and minority conservative who has seen the American dream through the eyes of his parents. He now wants to ensure the dream endures for his own sons, and others like them. Jorge Bonilla is a former Marine and sailor who has hit the black volcanic beaches of a congressional campaign, and armed with principle, determination, and love of country, will move forward, climb the heights of the seemingly insurmountable high ground, and raise the flag, the standard of liberty and freedom.

"I am honored and humbled to receive the Guardian Fund's Ones to Watch designation, Bonilla said. Lt. Col. West is a true American patriot, a friend and mentor whose wise counsel has been instrumental to my campaign."

Bonilla faces Carol Platt and Peter Vivaldi in the Aug. 26 primary. Grayson took 62.5 percent in 2012, beating out his Republican foe by 25 percent.