Rep. Justin Amash, who mulled over running for the White House earlier in the year, will not run for reelection.
“I love representing our community in Congress. I always will,” the Michigan Libertarian tweeted Thursday night. “This is my choice, but I’m still going to miss it. Thank you for your trust.”
I love representing our community in Congress. I always will. This is my choice, but I’m still going to miss it.
Thank you for your trust.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 17, 2020
Amash, a five-term representative who came to the House during the Republican tea party wave of 2010 and helped found the Freedom Caucus, left the GOP in July 2019 and became a vocal proponent of President Trump’s impeachment.
“The most important thing that we need to do is fix the process in Washington,” Amash told the Washington Examiner in April. “Right now, you have a few people at the top who run everything … this empowers a president who is willing to abuse power … and it also gives a president who is willing to challenge that system the ability to reverse things.”
He later established an exploratory committee seeking a bid for the White House after joining the Libertarian Party in April but decided against it after five weeks. His defection from the Republican Party also hurt his reelection to Congress.
Local and state support to win Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District became more difficult for Amash as his usual Michigan Republican donors left him, and the eventual GOP nominee in the primary would have the support of the party. There are presently five Republicans and one Democrat vying for the Michigan seat, which the Cook Political Report rates R+6 and “Leans Republican.”
“You can definitely quote me saying that we hope he runs again,” Jim Turney, a previous chairman of the national Libertarian Party, told the Detroit News. “I feel pretty confident that applies to every member of the Libertarian Party, no matter where they live.”
