Rep. Thaddeus McCotter will run a write-in campaign for the GOP nomination after botching the signature requirement to make the Congressional ballot in Michigan.

The five-term Republican announced Tuesday that he will launch a write-in bid while the secretary of state’s office continues its investigation into his ballot petitions.

“The buck stops with me,” McCotter, who ran a quixotic presidential bid earlier this cycle, said in a statement. “That’s why I urge the continued investigation into the petitions. Everyone deserves to know what happened regarding this filing.”

Late Friday night, McCotter announced that the secretary of state alerted him that he did not have enough valid signatures to make the ballot. The news came as a shock to McCotter, as well as other Republicans in Michigan and Washington, D.C.

Democrats have a good shot at picking up the seat without McCotter or a strong Republican on the November ballot. Accordingly, Roll Call will soon re-evaluate its Safe Republican rating of the 11th district race.

In an op-ed for the Detroit News, McCotter explained his reasons for a write-in bid. It was titled “You Clean Up Your Own Mess.”

“Having promised people I would seek another term in the United States Congress and, thereby, give them the chance to vote for or against me, the only way to clean up my mess is to run a write-in campaign for the Republican nomination for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District,” he wrote in the op-ed.