Justin Amash nixes third-party presidential run

Rep. Justin Amash announced Saturday he would not be running as a third-party candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

“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 tweeted.

The Republican-turned-independent from Michigan formed an exploratory committee as a Libertarian Party candidate in April.

Amash said political polarization and the spread of coronavirus in the U.S. presented “extraordinary challenges” to his candidacy.

“Electoral success requires an audience willing to consider alternatives, but both social media and traditional media are dominated by voices strongly averse to the political risks posed by a viable third candidate,” he wrote.

Amash went on to say that social distancing guidelines and a stalled economy have hindered campaigning and fundraising needed to fuel a successful third-party run.

“The new reality of social distancing levels the playing field among the candidates in many respects, but it also means lesser known candidates are more dependent on adequate media opportunities to reach people,” Amash said.

It was the end to a quixotic process that had potential to upend a close presidential contest.

Politicians of all stripes, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), quickly weighed in after Amash made his announcement.

“I don’t know what is next for @justinamash, but I know he will always choose an honorable path,” Swalwell tweeted. “He is a decent public servant and left his party to do the right thing and stand-up to a corrupt president. Good luck, Justin.”

Former Rep. Joe Walsh, who launched a failed 2020 presidential bid of his own, thanked Amash for not entering the race.

“Now work with all of us to make sure that Donald Trump is defeated,” Walsh tweeted. “He’s unfit. You know that because you rightly voted to impeach him. Now let’s defeat him. Thank you my friend.”

“Never-Trumper” Republicans, including Walsh, were concerned Amash would not win but “siphon enough votes” from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to “hand the election to Trump.”

President Donald Trump disagreed with that assessment, saying in a tweet then that Amash would make a “wonderful candidate” and had “no chance of maintaining his Congressional seat.”

Amash, who entered Congress in 2010 during the tea party wave, left the Republican Party in July 2019 after writing in a Washington Post op-ed that he had grown “disenchanted” with party politics, becoming the first GOP member on record to declare that Trump had engaged in impeachable conduct.

Trump has routinely chastised Amash on social media, calling him a “loser” and blasting the congressman as being disloyal.