Peter Meijer wins GOP primary in race to fill Amash's Michigan seat

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Peter Meijer won the Republican primary in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District late Tuesday in a race to fill Rep. Justin Amash's seat.

Meijer is an Iraq war veteran and grandson of the founder of the famous Midwestern supermarket chain by the same name.

Meijer said in a statement to The Detroit News that the results were a "resounding message that we are tired of playing the political games of the past."

"The time has come for a Republican party that offers solutions based on conservative values like limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty, to tackle issues in the present and the challenges sure to come," he said.

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The 32-year-old Trump supporter will face Democratic civil rights attorney Hillary Scholten, who worked for the Obama Justice Department, in November.

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"Tonight, I would like to congratulate [Meijer] on the big victory in his primary. When Michigan's 3rd congressional district needed a voice in Washington, Justin Amash turned his back on his constituents," Michigan GOP Chair Laura Cox said in a Tuesday statement posted to Twitter.

Amash, a Libertarian who left the Republican Party in 2019 and has vehemently criticized President Trump, announced in July he would not seek reelection after serving Michigan's 3rd District for nine years.

"Congress is increasingly filled with people who don't genuinely believe in anything. Their beliefs bend to power," Amash tweeted Tuesday night. He added in another tweet: "This government sucks."

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