Congressman Amash decides against third-party campaign for White House

Congressman Justin Amash, a Republican-turned independent, announced on Saturday he would not run for the White House as a Libertarian.

"After much reflection, I've concluded that circumstances don't lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate," Amash, from Michigan, said on Twitter.

"Polarization is near an all-time high," he continued. "Electoral success requires an audience willing to consider alternatives, but both social media and traditional media are dominated by voices strongly averse to the political risks posed by a viable third candidate."

Amash, first elected to U.S. Congress in 2010, announced late April the establishment of an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian presidential nomination.

A critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and an advocate for his impeachment, Amash left the Republican Party in July 2019 to become an independent before joining the Libertarian Party last month.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is set to be challenged by former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, for the 2020 election.