--- title: Rep. Justin Amash Quits Republican Party description: Michigan Representative Justin Amash, the only House Republican open to impeaching President Donald Trump, announced he is leaving the party canonical: https://time.com/5620421/justin-amash-quits-republican-party/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-04T13:12:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:54:52.540Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Critic Rep. Justin Amash Quits Republican Party og:description: Amash is the only House Republican open to impeaching President Donald Trump og:url: https://time.com/5620421/justin-amash-quits-republican-party/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd27bbc2095de22/6989ff817cdbac2cf0d60ef1/gettyimages-1127813023.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Testifies Before House Oversight Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Critic Rep. Justin Amash Quits Republican Party twitter:description: Amash is the only House Republican open to impeaching President Donald Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd27bbc2095de22/6989ff817cdbac2cf0d60ef1/gettyimages-1127813023.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Critic Rep. Justin Amash Quits Republican Party by [Derek Wallbank / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Derek Wallbank / Bloomberg Jul 4, 2019 1:12 PM UTC  Representative Justin Amash, a Republican from Michigan, speaks during a House Oversight Committee hearing with Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. Representative Justin Amash, a Republican from Michigan, speaks during a House Oversight Committee hearing with Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Derek Wallbank / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Derek Wallbank / Bloomberg Jul 4, 2019 1:12 PM UTC Michigan Representative [Justin Amash](https://time.com/5604828/justin-amash-quits-freedom-caucus/), the only House Republican open to impeaching President Donald Trump, said he would quit the party, after becoming “disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it.” “Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,” Amash wrote in a column for the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/justin-amash-our-politics-is-in-a-partisan-death-spiral-thats-why-im-leaving-the-gop/2019/07/04/afbe0480-9e3d-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.5217126503c4). Amash, a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, has long been an independent libertarian-minded vote in the House. A West Michigan lawmaker who pledged to read every word of every bill he voted on, Amash has often broken from his party, a stance that for years was widely tolerated within his own caucus. That changed earlier this year, when Amash said a full reading of Robert Mueller’s report had convinced him Trump had engaged in “impeachable conduct.” Trump responded by calling Amash a “total lightweight,” and the rest of the party quickly abandoned him. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Amash just wanted attention, while long-time donors like the DeVos family––led by Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos––broke ties. In May, Amash drew a primary challenge from state Representative Jim Lower. Amash, in the Post, wrote there are consequences for a “mind-set among the political class that loyalty to party is more important than serving the American people or protecting our governing institutions.” Both Republicans and Democrats, he wrote, “value winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5620421/justin-amash-quits-republican-party/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5620421/justin-amash-quits-republican-party/"},"headline":"Trump Critic Rep. 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