Justin Amash possible presidential campaign, 2020
Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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| “ | This election is too important for Donald Trump or Joe Biden to be running for president. But they have the right to run like anyone else. The answer to bad candidates is not to keep others off the ballot, but rather to give the people honest, practical, and capable alternatives.[1] | ” |
| —Justin Amash (April 2020)[2] | ||
Justin Amash is a former member of the U.S. House representing Michigan's 3rd Congressional District. He filed an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party's nomination for president on April 28, 2020.[3] On May 16, 2020, Amash wrote on Twitter, "After much reflection, I’ve concluded that circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate."[4]
Amash was first elected to the House as a Republican in 2010 and was re-elected as a Republican in each subsequent election year. Amash announced that he had left the Republican Party on July 4, 2019.[5]
In the House, Amash was the chairman of the House Liberty Caucus.
Biography
Amash was born in 1980 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to a family of immigrants from Palestine. He attended Grand Rapids Christian High School, graduating as class valedictorian. Amash graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan with a degree in economics in 2002 and obtained his law degree from the same school in 2005.[6]
Before entering politics, Amash worked as a consultant to his family's tool-importing business and as a corporate attorney. He served a single term in the Michigan House of Representatives before winning election to the U.S. House in 2010.
Amash "has been one of the most iconoclastic members of the House ... [and] a persistent thorn in the side of GOP leaders," according to the Almanac of American Politics. Amash opposed John Boehner's (R) re-election as speaker in January 2013 and was one of six members of the GOP caucus to not vote for Kevin McCarthy (R) for speaker in 2019, backing Thomas Massie (R) instead.[6]
During the 2016 presidential election, Amash supported Rand Paul (R) and, after he dropped out, Ted Cruz (R). He declined to back Donald Trump (R) after Trump won the Republican nomination, saying that he would not vote for Trump or for Hillary Clinton (D).[7] Amash voted in favor of both articles of impeachment against President Trump.[8]
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Twitter, "Justin Amash on April 29, 2020," accessed April 29, 2020
- ↑ Twitter, "Justin Amash on April 28, 2020," accessed April 29, 2020
- ↑ Politico, "Justin Amash nixes third-party presidential run," May 16, 2020
- ↑ Washington Post "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving the GOP." July 4, 2019
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cohen, R., et. al. (2019). The Almanac of American Politics 2020. Bethesda, MD: Columbia Books Inc. (pages 924-925)]
- ↑ Michigan Live, "U.S. Rep. Justin Amash vows to remain vigilant under President Trump," December 15, 2016
- ↑ Fox News, "Rep. Justin Amash, former Republican, backs impeachment: Trump has 'abused and violated the public trust,'" December 18, 2019
