Todd Spangler | Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON – Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan took another step toward running for president on Tuesday, saying he has formed an exploratory committee to look into his chances of winning the Libertarian Party's nomination.

Amash, an independent from Cascade Township outside Grand Rapids, announced his intentions on Twitter around 8:30 p.m. In a series of posts, he said, "Americans are ready for practical approaches based in humility and trust of the people."

A former Republican who left the party last summer as he called for President Donald Trump's impeachment, Amash said a couple of weeks ago that he was considering running for president and would make an announcement soon.

He has become a frequent foil of Trump's, most recently chiding him for comments in which the president suggested his power over the states was "absolute" in reacting to the spread of the coronavirus. Amash, a constitutional lawyer, has long been a renegade even as a Republican, bolting from his party when he did not feel it was sufficiently committed to principles of the free market and constitutional limitations and balances.

"We’re ready for a presidency that will restore respect for our Constitution and bring people together," he said in another post Tuesday night. "I’m excited and honored to be taking these first steps toward serving Americans of every background as president."

By announcing his exploratory committee, which he's calling Amash for America, Amash isn't necessarily committing to a run. The committee allows him to test the waters, doing polling, making calls and taking other steps short of declaring as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission.

It also allows him the possibility of jumping back into running for reelection in the western Michigan district he has represented for five two-year terms, though he faces a tough test there as well, running as an independent in a Republican-leaning district.

Today, I launched an exploratory committee to seek the @LPNational’s nomination for president of the United States. Americans are ready for practical approaches based in humility and trust of the people. — Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 29, 2020

Running as a Libertarian candidate gives him a better chance of appearing on ballots in November than running as a true independent, even though his candidacy, at best, could be described as a vast long shot. No third party candidate has ever been elected president.

With the U.S still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic, however, it's unclear what the process of becoming the Libertarian nominee may look like. As recently as Sunday, the Libertarian Party said on its website that the site of its planned May 20-26 convention in Austin, Texas, had, without notice, canceled all reservations for the event.

Trump suggested a third-party challenge from Amash may help his re-election chances.

"No, I think Amash would make a wonderful candidate, especially since he is way behind in his district and has no chance of maintaining his Congressional seat," Trump tweeted. "He almost always votes for the Do Nothing Dems anyway."

Amash enters the race with a certain name recognition, given that he has frequently been cited as a critic of both Trump and of Republicans and Democrats whom he has cited as more worried about wielding political power than following the Constitution.

But there are other candidates running for the nomination who have more of a history with the party, including former California Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, who ran as the party's vice presidential nominee in 2012, and lawyer Jacob Hornberger, who founded the Future of Freedom Foundation, a group that advocates for smaller government and free markets.

While Amash is often in the news for his criticism of Trump, who he thought should have been impeached for obstructing justice in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he is far from a liberal member of Congress.

Amash has repeatedly called for reductions in government spending and limits on government involvement in the market, including health care. And while he voted in favor of articles of impeachment against Trump related to his asking the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, Amash has also taken heat for votes such as one this year where he was one of four members of the House to vote against an anti-lynching law.

Amash, who explains his votes on Twitter, said he did so because the law bans an activity which is already illegal under federal law and, at the same time, intrudes on state police powers.