Anti-NSA Warrior Congressman Justin Amash Gets Reelected Big Time

[Chef Ramsay]

To those that were unaware of this, this race was deemed the most nasty in terms of smears and big money coming in to oust one of the premiere constitutional warriors in the US Congress. The big money puppet, chamber of commerce republican Brian Ellis, even spent upwards of a million USD to primary one of most popular grassroots favored representatives in the country. After Brat defeated Majority leader Eric Cantor the political class set their sights on Amash and subsequently got their asses handed to them once again.

Justin Amash Quells an Establishment Revolt
He was significantly outspent, but victorious nonetheless.

By Joel Gehrke
AUGUST 6, 2014 1:00 AM

A libertarian, tea-party congressman just rolled to reelection in a congressional district that is home to some of the wealthiest people in the business wing of the Republican party.

Representative Justin Amash (R., Mich.) was outspent by his opponent, Brian Ellis, who had the support of the Chamber of Commerce and other House Republicans, but it was never even a tight race. “It’s been a pretty significant lead for the congressman throughout,” a Republican consultant and pollster in Michigan unaffiliated with either campaign told National Review Online Monday.

As of this writing, Amash enjoys a comfortable double-digit lead, garnering 57 percent of the vote to Ellis’​s 43 percent.

Ellis’s campaign was supposed to demonstrate the political costs of the government shutdown — the primary was supposed to be another “establishment strikes back” moment in the 2014 election cycle. “I’m hearing it from everybody,” Ellis told The Hill in November of last year. “[The shutdown was] no way to run a country. It’s no way to govern.”

In the end, it was Ellis who was left with no way to govern. Amash spokesman Will Adams attributed his candidate’s success to the fact that there is “overwhelming grassroots support for Justin and almost no grassroots support for Ellis.”

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more...http://www.nationalreview.com/article/384691/justin-amash-quells-establishment-revolt-joel-gehrke

[Chef Ramsay]

Amash Beats Back Crony Republican's Primary Challenge

Robby Soave | Aug. 5, 2014 10:59 pm

Incumbent Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) survived a closely-watched primary election Tuesday night, defeating challenger Brian Ellis 55 percent to 45 percent and retaining the Republican nomination for the west Michigan House seat. Ellis conceded around 10:30 p.m. ET, according to the Grand Rapids Press.

Amash, a liberty-friendly Republican whose principled opposition to NSA spying, crony capitalism, and foreign entanglements has earned him support from libertarians—as well as the enmity of the GOP establishment—was forecast to win the race weeks ago. However, his political survival was not always a matter of fact. Neoconservative Republicans and corporatist special interests backed Ellis early in the race. Their attempts to portray Amash as the "best friend" of both Nancy Pelosi and al-Qaida backfired, however. District voters told Slate's Dave Weigel that they were tired of Ellis's negative campaigning and agreed with Amash that it was wrong to trade liberty for security.

Having secured the Republican nomination, Amash is all but guaranteed to be re-elected in November. Undeniable good news: It seems a libertarian Congressman can fight an uncompromising battle against big government and big business and keep his seat, after all.

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Video and more...http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/05/amash-beats-back-crony-republicans-prima

[Chef Ramsay]

REBEL LEADER JUSTIN AMASH WINS BIG IN MICHIGAN

by CHARLIE SPIERING
5 Aug 2014, 8:05 PM PDT

Rebellious Republican Rep. Justin Amash has won his re-election battle in Michigan’s 3rd district against his challenger Brian Ellis, a blow to the GOP Establishment which had put significant resources into the race.

Ellis conceded the race as Amash had 55 percent of the vote and Ellis had 44 percent with 44 percent of the precincts reporting.

Allies of Speaker John Boehner had rallied for pro-establishment candidate Republican Brian Ellis and to take out Amash, the first lawmaker to vote against Boehner for speaker on the House floor in January 2013.

Ellis, a Grand Rapids businessman, loaned his campaign over $1 million and earned the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

Ellis used his money for an onslaught of negative ads that painted Amash as "Al Qaeda's best friend" and accused the pro-life congressman of voting to allow “gender-selection abortions to continue."

After winning his 2010 election, Amash went to Congress at the age 30 making him the second-youngest sitting congressman in Congress.

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More...http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/05/Rebel-Leader-Justin-Amash-Wins-Big-In-Michigan

[Chef Ramsay]

International coverage

Justin Amash wins Michigan Republican primary
NSA critic, savaged in attack ads and targeted by security establishment, comfortably retains congressional nomination

Dan Roberts in Washington
Wednesday 6 August 2014 00.56 EDT

A leading congressional critic of the National Security Agency, Justin Amash, successfully fended off political attacks on his patriotism on Thursday in a lively night of primary elections that also saw incumbents defeat a reindeer farmer from Michigan and radiologist who posted morbid X-rays on Facebook.

Amash – who led the first attempt in the House of Representatives to rein in the NSA after revelations of mass domestic surveillance by Edward Snowden – comfortably defeated Brian Ellis for the Republican party nomination in Michigan’s third district.

Ellis had campaigned heavily against Amash’s record on privacy issues and his separate calls for the closure of Guantánamo Bay, enlisting military veterans to record attack adverts that referred to him as “al-Qaida’s best friend in Congress”.

Amash’s well-funded challenger was also supported by powerful elements in Washington’s security establishment, including House intelligence committee chair Mike Rogers, making this primary election perhaps the first real test of public support for NSA critics at the ballot box.

In an emotional acceptance speech Amash demanded an apology from Ellis for running a “disgusting and despicable smear campaign” and claimed his win represented “a remarkable margin of victory” given the number of establishment interest groups against him.

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More...http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/justin-amash-wins-michigan-republican-primary

[Nathonas]

Isn't he also one of the 8 congressmen that voted against sending 225 million in aid to Israel recently? Seems he is one of the only politicians with a backbone. I'd vote for him if I was an American, despite him being a Republican.