Pete Hoekstra is the rightful chairman of the Republicans in Michigan, says RNC

After a bitter month-long fight in Michigan over who can rightly claim leadership of the Republican Party in this critical state, the Republican National Committee said Wednesday that it had formally recognized Pete Hoekstra as the rightful chairman of the state party.

The decision follows a Jan. 6 vote by some party officials in Michigan to oust Kristina Karamo, a far-right election denier who led the party for nearly a year.

Mr. Hoekstra was elected to the post later that month and was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump. But Ms. Karamo refused to accept her resignation, setting off a dispute that has caused an uproar among Republicans and ended up in court just weeks before the party held its presidential primaries and caucus-style convention there.

Critics of Ms. Karamo said the Michigan Party under her leadership was shrouded in secrecy and struggling with funds. In choosing Mr. Hoekstra, they elevated a former member of the House of Representatives, who was Mr. Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands.

Mr. Hoekstra said in an interview that he hoped Ms. Karamo would resign now.

“So now you have the state committee,” he said when informed of the RNC's decision on Wednesday. “You have the RNC and you have the president, which in many cases would have been sufficient on its own. When you put all that together cumulatively, it's like, okay, this decision has been made. Let's move on.”

Ms. Karamo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

During a conference call on Monday, the RNC heard arguments from attorneys for Mr. Hoekstra and Ms. Karamo. In an email that same day, Ms. Karamo challenged the authority of national Republicans to decide the matter.

She described the faction that voted to replace her as a “deceptive organization fraudulently claiming to be the Republican Party of Michigan.” She said the state party was “prepared to take appropriate steps” to protect the rights of its leaders.

Ms. Karamo has been a lightning rod for the party's competing factions in the state since Michigan Republicans chose her for secretary of state in 2022 — a race she lost by 14 percentage points but refused to concede.

She promised to heal the party and return it to electoral success after two cycles of losses. The state flipped from Mr. Trump in the 2016 election to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 election, and during the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats captured the state's top offices and flipped the legislature.

But last fall, when the state party meeting on Mackinac Island highlighted the shortages — attendance plummeted, presidential candidates skipped the event, some speakers didn't show up — the mutiny intensified.

Lawyers for the RNC wrote in late January that it appeared Ms. Karamo had been “properly removed” as chair, but did not recognize Mr. Hoekstra as chair in what they described as an initial review.

Both Ms. Karamo and Mr. Hoekstra then arrived at a meeting in Las Vegas of Republican Party bosses from around the country. Neither received official recognition.

Mr. Hoekstra has since moved on to planning two fundraising dinners for the state party in late February, before Michigan holds its nominating contests. For her part, Ms. Karamo has been sending messages from the state party's email account in recent days, claiming that it was normal for her.

Trump, the overwhelming Republican front-runner for president, heads to Michigan for a campaign rally on Saturday.