[caption id=”attachment_95480″ align=”aligncenter” width=”512″] U.S. Rep. Justin Amash celebrates his primary election victory over Brian Ellis at GP Sports inside the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Cory Morse)
[/caption]
After a bitter primary fight, Rep. Justin Amash (R- Mich.) delivered a bold victory speech in which he skewered his opponent last week. The Congressman has taken plenty of heat for his less-than-gracious words, but Amash is not backing down.
Amash wrote an op-ed in the Grand Rapids Press Thursday to defend his statements and to respond to the paper’s own editorial titled, “Amash missed chance to take the high road.”
“Candidates for office are entitled to run tough campaigns against me or anyone else. But we all can agree that there are lines that should not be crossed, even in politics. I propose that an ethnically tinged charge of supporting terrorists is one of those lines, and accusing a pro-life father of allowing the murder of baby girls is another,” Amash wrote.
“I don’t know why my opponent resorted to such tactics. I can only speculate why a former West Michigan congressman endorsed and repeated those attacks. I do know that if we want healthier, more civil politics that reflect the values of our community, such over-the-line smears must end.”
Amash said his speech was a way to stand up to “the bullying.”
“Shrugging off those types of attacks—reciting platitudes about moving on—simply encourages more of the same,” he wrote.
Amash defeated opponent Brian Ellis in his primary 57.4 percent to 42.6 percent.
“You owe my family and this community an apology for your disgusting, despicable smear campaign,” Amash said to Ellis in his victory speech. “You had the audacity to try and call me today after running a campaign that was called the nastiest in the country. I ran for office to stop people like you. To stop people who are more interested in themselves than in doing what’s best for their district.”
The congressman said in his op-ed that these words went along with his promise to voters that he would never be a “typical politician” and that they showed “courage” more elected officials should have.
“I spoke plainly on election night to bring attention to this issue,” Amash said. “West Michigan deserves a campaign that is tough but civil. Our community would embrace a constructive debate about big ideas, for a change. But we cannot have a public debate worthy of West Michigan until leaders muster the courage to call out the misconduct that holds us back.”
