On Wednesday, Independent Rep. Justin Amash (MI-03) announced he is forming an exploratory effort for the Libertarian nomination for president, telling the Detroit News that Joe Biden's run is a "vanity project" and that President Trump "isn't well in many ways." He subsequently told Reason he doesn't intend to run for reelection and is changing his party affiliation with the House clerk's office to Libertarian.
In reality, it's doubtful there was much of a market for a fiercely pro-life, pro-impeachment independent in Grand Rapids this fall. Private partisan polls in the 3rd district have found Amash, who defected from the GOP last July, running in third place behind named major-party opponents. It's possible Amash saw similar numbers and decided he was better off taking a different if quixotic, route to airing his views nationally.
Michigan's filing deadline for the August 4 primary was recently extended by a federal judge from April 21 to May 8 for major party candidates and remains July 16 for independent and third-party candidates. So technically, Amash still has two months to change his mind and
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