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

Kevorkian, 79, is jumping into a competitive congressional race, challenging a Republican incumbent for a district in suburban Detroit. “I’m not a politician,” Kevorkian said on Monday, adding he is not tied to anybody or anything. “My mind is free. So I can say what I think.”

Although he has been nicknamed “Dr Death,” Kevorkian did not say much about assisted suicide at his news conference. He alluded to it, though, saying: “What I did was my right.”

If elected, he said his main priority will be promoting the little-known Ninth Amendment, which protects rights not explicitly specified elsewhere in the US Constitution. Kevorkian said he interprets it as protecting a person’s choice to die through assisted suicide or to avoid wearing a seat belt.

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 Oakland County man with Lou Gehrig’s disease, die in 1998. He was convicted of second-degree murder the following year.

Just 10 months removed from prison, Kevorkian said he does not plan to actively raise money but said he will accept it if someone donates to his campaign. Without money for ads, bumpers stickers and yard signs, Kevorkian plans to hold face-to-face meetings with would-be voters at public libraries throughout the 9th Congressional District in Oakland County.