New Liberty Candidate, Justin Amash, Files for Congress in Michigan (CD-3)

[enrique]

My friend and state representative, Justin Amash, announced this afternoon his intention to unseat our 16 year incumbent Republican congressman, Vern Ehlers. Amash will be running in the third congressional district. He is an unabashed supporter of free markets, strictly limited intervention, and individual liberty. I have watched him for 2 years in the Michigan House of Representatives and he has not had a single vote to which I disagreed with. I've never been this excited about a libertarian Republican running for office since the '08 Ron Paul campaign!

Be sure to visit his website that was just launched today. You can read a little more about him and see his speech to the Tea Party last April here.

Justin probably has one of our best legitimate shots at getting someone to help out Ron Paul in the House of Representatives.

 

[Son of Detroit]

Where is this? Grand Rapids area?

 

[enrique]

CD - 3 is Grand Rapids area

It consists of almost all of Kent County and then all of Barry and Ionia counties.

 

[dr. hfn]

thats like schiff's website

 

[enrique]

Yeah, it must be the same platform.

 

[K466]

The site is similar to Schiff's but much better. Peter needs to get his site updated!

 

[UtahApocalypse]

I am in Muskegon so cannot vote for him but will come help whenever possible

 

[Nathan Hale]

Nice web site, this guy looks like a good candidate.

 

[UtahApocalypse]

16 year incumbent Republican congressman, Vern Ehlers announced today that he will not seek reelection which now leaves this race wide open.

 

[keh10]

16 year incumbent Republican congressman, Vern Ehlers announced today that he will not seek reelection which now leaves this race wide open.

Very Nice! That's great news.

 

[TheState]

MI 3rd CD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan's_3rd_congressional_district

Are there any other announced candidates yet?

 

[angelatc]

16 year incumbent Republican congressman, Vern Ehlers announced today that he will not seek reelection which now leaves this race wide open.

HOLY SMOKES!!! That's awesome news!

 

[erowe1]

I haven't looked into Amash yet. But if he's as good as it sounds, then this is great news. I remember having some phone conversations with some of the leaders of the Ron Paul meetup from the Grand Rapids area, and they were definitely high quality volunteers. If they're involved in the Amash campaign, then he'll be a contender for sure, especially now that it's an open seat.

Edit: Just read over his issues page, and I definitely like what I see. I think this race deserves some serious support from Ron Paul supporters.

 

[angelatc]

I haven't looked into Amash yet. But if he's as good as it sounds, then this is great news. I remember having some phone conversations with some of the leaders of the Ron Paul meetup from the Grand Rapids area, and they were definitely high quality volunteers. If they're involved in the Amash campaign, then he'll be a contender for sure, especially now that it's an open seat.

Edit: Just read over his issues page, and I definitely like what I see. I think this race deserves some serious support from Ron Paul supporters.

He is definitely one of us, and he allegedly mentors other young liberty candidates too. I was filled with joy when I saw that the incumbent was stepping down - this guy has a real chance.

 

[winston_blade]

Great. Might have another couple RP's in the congress this year.

 

[AdamT]

Adding him to our CPAC R3V candidate's brochure. Good timing, this thing is going to print tomorrow.

 

[enrique]

Ehlers out - Others looking to jump in

Amash scared Ehlers out of the race and now a lot of other people who have been waiting in the wings are going to jump in. We need to raise a lot of money fast for this guy becuase he is the real deal. I don't know how better to express that than go to the link to RSE and watch his Tea Party speech back in April.

ERowe: I think we spoke back in the heady days of RP '08 (you were in the Michiana group?). Yeah, Justin is a winner and has the right connections to win as well. The best part is that he has really launched an explosion of viable liberty candidates in West Michigan and even other parts of the state.

Spread the word. This is a safe Republican seat so if he gets out of the primary he wins. This is probably one of our best 3 chances to get someone elected to serve with Ron Paul.

 

[Imperial]

I don't think this race will be quite that easy in the general. It is now open, and in the 08 presidential election it was 49-49 for Obama-McCain. So it is going to definitely be competitive to the end.

 

[enrique]

Safe General Seat

This is a safe district. Maybe, maybe it would be competitive in another Obama year with a great Democratic opponent but it is usually a 60-40 district. Whomever wins the primary for the Republicans should sail through the general.

One big name, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, has huge name ID but announced that she will not run. So probably a former State Senate majority leader (4 yrs ago) Ken Sikkema, and current state senator Bill Hardiman. The race is surprisingly becoming less competitive as time goes by. It might just be Amash versus a couple state senators and Tea Partier Mike Van Kleeck.

How do we add Justin Amash as a forum? I really think he should have one because he has a legitimate chance of winning.

 

[MelissaWV]

You can contact the site admins, Bryan and JoshLowry (you can try private message), or you could add it to the "Forum Feedback" subforum.

I'm worried about all the "stepping down" I'm seeing nationally. It seems like a lot of liberty candidates see their opponents shift and change at the "last minute" (it's not really the last minute, but you get what I mean). Is this part of a process to seem to change the old guard, while achieving the goal of keeping the new guard out of office? It seems like a trend.