Kevorkian announces a run for Congress

Jack Kevorkian, the assisted-suicide advocate who served eight years in prison for second-degree murder, announced Monday he’s running for Congress as an independent.

Kevorkian, 79, is jumping into a competitive House race, challenging incumbent Republican Joe Knollenberg for a district in suburban Detroit. Democrat Gary Peters is also running.

“I’m not a politician,” Kevorkian said, adding he is not tied to anybody or any special interests. “My mind is free. So I can say what I think.”

Kevorkian, who was nicknamed “Dr. Death,” said that if he was elected, his priority would be promoting the 9th Amendment, which protects rights not explicitly specified elsewhere in the Constitution. Kevorkian said he interprets it as protecting a person’s choice to die through assisted suicide or to avoid wearing a seat belt.

He said the government is tyrannical.

“You’ve been trained to obey it, not fight for it, because the tyrant doesn’t like that,” Kevorkian said.

Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, claims to have helped at least 130 people die from 1990 until 1998.

He said he was proud to serve his prison term for helping Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old Michigan man with Lou Gehrig’s disease, die in 1998. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999.

Just 10 months out of prison, Kevorkian said he did not plan to actively raise money but said he will accept it if someone donates to his campaign.