Justin Amash announces US Senate bid

Former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan has announced a U.S. Senate bid, indicating that he will compete in the Republican primary.

“After thoroughly evaluating all aspects of a potential campaign, I’m convinced that no candidate would be better positioned to win both the Republican primary and the general election. That’s why, today, I’m making it official: I’m joining the race for United States Senate in Michigan,” Amash declared in a post on X.

“As I wrote when I launched my exploratory committee: We need a principled, consistent constitutional conservative in the Senate—someone with a record of taking on the bipartisan oligarchy, defending sound money and free speech, fighting the surveillance state and military-industrial complex, and protecting all our rights,” he noted. Amash had announced in January that he was considering a Senate bid.

“Follow the Constitution. Read the bills. Stop governing by emergency. End the forever war. Cut taxes & spending. Stop borrowing trillions. No CBDC. Protect free speech. Repeal the Patriot Act & FISA 702. No qualified immunity for government officials. End civil asset forfeiture,” Amash wrote in another post.

On his X account, Amash describes himself as a “libertarian” and “constitutional conservative.”

While serving as a House lawmaker from early 2011 until early 2021, Amash switched from Republican to independent in 2019. That same year, he voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump.

In 2020, Amash switched to libertarian and openly considered a presidential bid. “I launched an exploratory committee to seek the [Libertarian Party’s] nomination for president of the United States,” Amash tweeted. But less than three weeks later he tweeted, “circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate.”

Amash is jumping into a Republican primary that includes figures such as former Rep. Peter Meijer and former Rep. Mike Rogers.