Update: West Michigan businessman Brian Ellis announces run against Rep. Justin Amash

EAST GRAND RAPIDS, MI – U.S. Rep. Justin Amash may have at least one foe standing between him and another Republican nomination to represent Michigan’s Third District in Congress.

Brian Ellis, the president of Brooktree Capital Management and a longtime East Grand Rapids Board of Education member, is expected to mount an August 2014 party primary challenge to Amash, a sophomore congressman whose representation has irked the GOP establishment. A press conference is planned 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Country Inn & Suites, 3251 Deposit Dr. NE, near I-96 and East Beltline Avenue.

"After months of thoughtful consideration regarding a challenge to Congressman Justin Amash for the nomination in Michigan’s 3rd District, businessman and conservative Republican Brian Ellis will announce his decision Tuesday," states a media advisory sent late Monday afternoon.

Brian Ellis

RELATED:

• Brian Ellis: Justin Amash should have supported Keystone XL pipeline (Guest column)

• Rep. Justin Amash nixes 2014 Senate run, ending months-long speculation

• Justin Amash helped fund Wyoming Libertarian who got thumped by mainstream Republicans

Amash first won election to Congress in 2011 at age 30, emerging from a 5-way primary race to win the GOP nomination before beating Democrat Pat Miles in the general election. He then was unopposed in the Republican primary in August 2012 before winning a second 2-year term by defeating Democrat Steve Pestka in November 2012.

Amash self-identifies as a "principled conservative," and the voting rationale he shares on Facebook both has won him passionate followers and annoyed some fellow Republicans. Ellis, for example, wrote a June column to MLive criticizing Amash for being the lone Republican in the U.S. House not to vote in support of building the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

And Ellis has a lot of big-money backers who also are miffed at Amash, according to this Detroit News report.

State Sen. Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Township, also might challenge Amash for the GOP nomination in 2014, said Deborah Drick, his chief of staff.

“He was approached real heavily the last term (when Amash was unopposed for the GOP nomination), but he still had two years left in the (state) Senate and wasn’t going to bail on that,” she said. “Now, he doesn’t have that (because he's term-limited out of the Senate).

“In the wake of a government shutdown, somebody (pragmatic) like Mark looks really good. For him, the question is not ‘Will I get elected?’ The real question he’s got to answer is ‘Do I want to spend the next X number of years doing in Washington what I did in Michigan?’ There’s a lot of things he’s got to weigh out.”

The response from Amash's camp, according to this Washington Post report: "We're not worried."

Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.