“I think this boils down to a Congressman that has always thought that he was right and that everyone else was wrong,” he says. Two years later, he won his seat in Washington as a freshman member of the House, where he continued to ruffle feathers. Instead he watched as his peers fell in line behind the President. It smells like popcorn, there are neon lights everywhere, and Remember the Titans is playing silently on wall-mounted TVs. Independent Michigan Rep. Justin Amash confirmed Thursday night he would not be seeking reelection in Congress or any office. But being the dissident is also risky. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.”Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesPrior, in 2019, North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker called on Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash to leave the House Republican Conference after Amash announced on Independence Day that he is leaving the Republican Party.I love representing our community in Congress. Loathed by the GOP establishment and estranged from his former allies in the Freedom Caucus, Amash now must reintroduce himself to his constituents in a district that went for Trump in 2016. Michael Meyers, a state GOP operative working with Republican candidate Lynn Afendoulis, says Amash has his work cut out for him in his re-election bid. It’s a race that will test the price of principle in Trump’s America.Like us on Facebook to see similar stories“I want people to see that I was a Congressman who followed a consistent set of principles, upheld the Constitution and didn’t bow to pressure,” he says. Independent Michigan Rep. Justin Amash confirmed Thursday night he would not be seeking reelection in Congress or any office. But there’s been a problem in Congress with our two-party system for a long time.”(“I do not,” a man grumbled in response. At 28, he was elected to the state legislature, where he earned the nickname Mr. No: he’s anti-abortion, pro–Second Amendment and a committed fiscal hawk (though he voted for the Republican tax bill in 2017).
The list includes Peter Meijer, a veteran whose wealthy family owns a Michigan-based grocery chain, and Jim Lower, a state legislator who jumped into the race after Amash expressed openness to impeaching Trump earlier this year. In Donald Trump’s America, Rep. Justin Amash Sets an Independent Course Video by The Washington Post Justin Amash is sipping water at a movie-theater bar in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“And I don’t think there’s anyone in either party for whom that’s not true.”“Of all the years I’ve been in office, I’m the happiest now,” he says of his new independence. It’s not like Republicans who disagree with me on impeachment think they won’t consider me for Congress anymore,” Amash told TIME. “It’s very freeing to not feel bound to a particular party.”Trained as a lawyer, Amash worked for a Michigan law firm before joining his family’s tool business. I … As national Republicans continue to defend Trump, Amash has become something of a unicorn–and is risking his seat along the way.The 2020 battle is on in Amash’s district in western Michigan, where both Democrats and Republicans are already deep into primary season. Late in the evening on April 28th, former Republican and current Independent Congressman Justin Amash announced that he would be seeking the Libertarian Party …