Congressman, exploring run, defends third-party line for president

Michigan's Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican turned independent, defended his campaign for president on the Libertarian line as Democrats worry he will siphon votes away from former Vice President Joe Biden.

Amash, 40, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that "we don't know how the additional candidate changes a race. It's too impossible to figure out. There are too many calculations involved."

Amash, who is exploring a run on the third-party line, quit the Republican Party in July, writing in a Washington Post op-ed at the time that "modern politics is trapped in a partisan death spiral." He also cast votes to impeach President Donald Trump in December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

He told CNN's Jake Tapper that he was confident of his chances and said, "We need to win this election for the American people.”

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate in 2016, won nearly 3.3% of the popular vote in that year's election.

Democrats worry that Amash could siphon votes from Democrats in Michigan, a battleground state that is key to a Biden victory. Trump won the state in 2016.

Amash said, "A good portion of the country ... is pretty independent, and they are looking for another choice."

He continued, "But if you make it a three-candidate field, and you have a compelling candidate, they'd be delighted to go to that candidate."

He added: "We have a lot of uncertainty right now, and there's an opening for [the] Libertarian Party to become a major party in this country."

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.