GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After hinting as a possible campaign for the White House on Twitter this week, Rep. Justin Amash issued a statement on his "potential presidential run."
"In mid-February, Justin Amash paused active campaigning for his congressional seat to carefully consider a presidential run," the statement said. "He has been discussing the potential campaign with his family, his friends, his team, and others, and a decision can be expected soon."
This is the first time the five-term congressman said he has paused his campaign for re-election in the U.S. House of Representatives to actually consider running for president.
Talk of a third-party candidacy have been swirling around Amash since last spring, when he was the first then-Republican to call for an impeachment investigation. And the questions intensified when he left the GOP on July 4, 2019 to become an independent.
The political director for Michigan's Libertarian Party, Jamie Lewis, thinks Amash will run as a libertarian, seeking the nomination at the Memorial Day convention.
"There's a lot of people that are just fed up with the way things are going right now," said Lewis. "He's been getting a lot of response in his tweets, and how he feels there's a whole lot of government overreach. People are starting to see that. They want something different, and he's giving them something different than politics as usual."
Amash has represented Michigan's 3rd district since 2011, and he lives in Cascade Township. In order to be on the ballot, Amash would have to file 30,000 petition signatures by July 16.
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