May 17 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash said Saturday he won’t run as a third-party presidential candidate after announcing late last month that he had launched a committee to explore doing so.
Amash, a former Republican-turned-Independent, announced April 28 that he would launch a committee to explore running for president as a Libertarian candidate.
In a series of tweets Saturday, he announced the change in plans.
“I spent nearly three weeks assessing the race, appearing in media, talking to delegates and donors, watching the Libertarian Party’s convention plan unfold, and gathering feedback from family, friends, and other advisers,” Amash tweeted. “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.”
Amash stopped actively campaigning for his seat representing Michigan in the House in February as he considered the presidential run.
Last year Amash was the first of his party to join Democrats call for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and in July he announced his exit from the Republican Party. Most Americans “do not feel well represented by either of the two parties,” he wrote in a Washington Post Op-ed at the time.
