Michigan congressman to seek Libertarian nod for president

LANSING, Mich. — Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Wednesday he is seeking the Libertarian nod for president because millions of Americans do not feel well-represented by either major political party and their standard-bearers: President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Amash, a Trump critic who left the Republican Party to become an independent and later supported his impeachment, said too many people vote Republican or Democrat because they do not feel they have any other choice.

“It’s important that we present them with that alternative. The first step to moving toward no political parties or all independent candidates is to provide some big challengers to the main two parties right now,” he said. “The Libertarian Party can be that challenger.”

But third-party presidential campaigns can have unpredictable consequences.

In 2000, Ralph Nader’s Green Party presidential bid cost Al Gore crucial support and was a contributing factor in George W. Bush’s eventual win. Hillary

Clinton’s 2016 loss, meanwhile, has been blamed in part on the support Green Party candidate Jill Stein picked up in crucial battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania.

Amash was elected in 2010 as part of the tea party wave that toppled Democratic control. If Libertarians select him as their nominee, he would face nearly impossible odds of winning the presidency.

Amash, who became an independent last July, said he is running as a Libertarian because it is “very difficult to make headway” without a party apparatus.