MI-03: Amash's independence opens door for Dems in GOP stronghold
Grand Rapids — Liberals are optimistic that newly independent U.S. Rep. Justin Amash will do in 2020 what no other candidate has done in more than four decades: Help Democrats win a Grand Rapids-based seat in Congress.
The former Republican’s decision to buck the GOP has raised Amash’s profile and given him a national pedestal from which to preach against the two-party system without slogging through what would have been a bruising primary.
But it’s also bolstered Democrats' hopes to win the 3rd District seat if he siphons off GOP votes in a crowded general election, a once-unthinkable feat in a longtime Republican stronghold that has been recently trending blue in Grand Rapids and some suburbs.
“Even if Justin were remaining a Republican, I think we were really on the cusp of being viable to take it this cycle,” said 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Winston. “Now with Justin splitting conservative voters off of the Republican vote, that’s just even more help for Democrats to take the seat.”
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/27/amashs-independence-opens-door-dems-gop-stronghold/2120857001/