Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) is exploring a third-party run for president, and he does not think his bid would hand President Donald Trump a second term.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Amash responded to claims that he would play a “spoiler” role in the general election, “We don’t know how the additional candidate changes a race. It’s too impossible to figure out. There are too many calculations involved.”
He added, “I want to win the election. And we need to win this election for the American people.”
Watch the video below:
“Congress needs to work for the people. The executive branch needs to execute the laws. And right now if you have Donald Trump or Joe Biden as President, those things are not going to happen." – Libertarian presidential candidate Justin Amash on why he’s entered the race #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/9THJuWSDaC
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 3, 2020
Amash argued that a vast majority of Americans disapprove of their two choices for president, Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden. However, host Jake Tapper pointed out that a recent poll found just 10% of respondents have an unfavorable opinion of Trump and Biden.
“When you look at a lot of different polling out there, you’ll see that a good portion of the country — probably a plurality — is pretty independent and they are looking for another choice,” Amash countered.
He continued:
“They might prefer one candidate or the other if you have a two-candidate field. But if you make it a three-candidate field, and you have a compelling candidate, they’d be delighted to go to that candidate. For too long, we’ve had the same system where these two parties go at each other and Washington is totally dysfunctional. That’s why I left the Republican party, because there is this partisan death spiral. We need someone who is going to come in as president, respect our Constitution, defend our rights, and fix our representative system of government so people will actually feel represented at home.”
Additionally, Amash suggested that the current political climate has created an opening for a viable third-party, “Things are not settled the way they were maybe 30, 40 years ago. We have a lot of uncertainty right now. And there’s an opening for a Libertarian Party to become a major party in this country.”