Ex-Republican Amash eyes a GOP return for the Michigan Senate race

Former Rep. Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party following a crescendo of Donald Trump criticism, said Thursday that he’s mulling a return to the GOP and a jump into Michigan’s open Senate contest.

“Contenders for the seat who are uninspired, unserious, and unprepared to tackle the chief impediment to liberty and economic prosperity—an overgrown and abusive government that strives to centralize power and snuff out individualism,” Amash wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, as he laid out his case for possibly entering the contest.

Amash didn’t outline a timeline for a decision but said “the stakes are high: freedom, social cooperation, and human progress itself.”

He gained national attention in 2019 when he became the first Republican to say Trump committed impeachable offenses, later leaving the party to become an independent. He flirted with running for president in 2020 on the Libertarian Party ticket, but ultimately didn’t pursue the bid.

There’s no clear frontrunner right now in the race for the GOP nomination to succeed retiring-Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Among the contenders: former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, businessman Sandy Pensler, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) and former Rep. Peter Meijer (R) — who succeeded Amash in Congress and also criticized the former president before recently reversing himself and vowing to support Trump if he wins the party’s 2024 nomination.