https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1763232693985161365
{Justin Amash
@justinamash | 29 February 2024}
When I established an exploratory committee for Senate, I understood the challenge ahead. Running for office requires an extraordinary commitment, not just from the candidate but also from family, friends, volunteers, and donors. A campaign puts them through so much. That’s reason enough not to run for office unless there’s a clear path to victory and a high likelihood of success.
After thoroughly evaluating all aspects of a potential campaign, I’m convinced that no candidate would be better positioned to win both the Republican primary and the general election. That’s why, today, I’m making it official: I’m joining the race for United States Senate in Michigan.
The past few years away from Congress have given me time to reflect on the experiences that have shaped my life, the principles of liberty that inspire me, and what my tenure in Congress meant to the people of my community.
My parents arrived in the United States as teenagers in search of a better future—my father, a Palestinian refugee, and my mother, a Syrian immigrant. They instilled in me a love for America and for the values and principles at the heart of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
We live in the greatest country on earth, but the ideals that have made it great are increasingly taken for granted. People often feel helpless and hopeless, unheard and ignored by Washington, and trapped between opposing forces who reject America’s principles or don’t understand them.
So many times in my daily life, I’ve been approached by individuals who want me to know how much it meant to them that I did exactly what I said I’d do: that I upheld the Constitution regardless of the political consequences, that I read the bills, that I explained my votes, that I listened to the people I represented and held myself accountable to them in open town halls—giving them an opportunity to change my mind whenever we disagreed, and me an opportunity to change theirs.
I feel an obligation to get back to this work, but the circumstances of this upcoming election give it urgency.
Regardless of who wins the White House and Congress, the United States will remain deeply polarized. What we need is not a rubber stamp for either party, but an independent-minded senator prepared to challenge anyone and everyone on the people’s behalf—someone focused not on extending federal power so Republicans or Democrats in Washington can achieve their political ends, but on ensuring that Americans have the personal and economic freedom to pursue their own ends.
As I wrote when I launched my exploratory committee: We need a principled, consistent constitutional conservative in the Senate—someone with a record of taking on the bipartisan oligarchy, defending sound money and free speech, fighting the surveillance state and military-industrial complex, and protecting all our rights.
The advantage is ours in this battle, but that doesn’t mean victory will be easy. Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate, Mike Rogers, has built his career on expanding the power of the state at the expense of individual liberty, and the establishment will stop at nothing to get him elected.
But I’d take you over them any day.
Your financial support will be critical in this contest, so please give whatever you can at
justinamash.com. These resources will support our operation to collect petition signatures to make the ballot and will allow us to build out our team across the state.
Please also sign up at our website to let me know how you can contribute your time and talents to this effort. I’ll need your constant advocacy over the next several months. Videos, memes, graphics, messages—anything you can do to get the word out—will make a big difference.
This is the land of liberty, and it’s on us to defend it. Thank you for standing with me.
