The GOP nomination process in Michigan appears to be headed for chaos
As early in-person voting began in Michigan on Saturday, a battle for control of the Republican Party in the crucial battleground state plunged Republicans there deeper into a political maelstrom, with rival factions potentially moving toward staging dueling nominating conventions.
As if things weren't already confusing.
In just over a week, the state will host a traditional primary on one day and a caucus-style convention a few days later. Now it seems there might actually be two conventions, in different parts of the state, each claiming legitimacy.
Former President Donald J. Trump is headed to Michigan on Saturday evening for a campaign rally in Waterford Township, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. While he has made it clear which faction he supports, and that includes the national party, that has done little to stop the Trump-style election denier from retaining power.
The feud, already being fought out in state court, only appears to be gaining intensity.
Pete Hoekstra, who was recognized Wednesday by the Republican National Committee as the rightful chairman of the state party after his election last month, said he is moving forward with plans to hold a statewide nominating convention on March 2 in western Michigan.
But Kristina Karamo, despite the RNC's determination that she was rightly ousted as party chair earlier in January and Mr. Trump's support for Mr. Hoekstra, has also indicated that she will continue to organize a convention on the same day with the same goal. but in Detroit.
At stake at the convention are 39 of Michigan's 55 Republican presidential delegates. The remaining 16 will be decided during the state's Feb. 27 primary, with at least nine days of early voting available. The hybrid process, new this year, was adopted by Republicans to comply with RNC rules after Michigan's Democratic governor moved up the primary election date.
“We are the Michigan GOP,” Mr. Hoekstra said in an interview Friday. “Not Kristina Karamo.”
Mr. Hoekstra, a former member of the House of Representatives and Mr. Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands, called Ms. Karamo's meeting on March 2 a “meeting.”
“They're not hosting a convention,” he said.
Ms Karamo, who gained notoriety for her claims of fraud in the 2020 election, was elected party chairman last year after losing her 2022 bid for foreign minister. She did not respond to several requests for comment Friday, but on social media and in a recent statement from the state party's email account she has emphasized that she is still in charge.
“The Boys Club of Gray Poupon Good Ole hates that they have no control over me and that we have disrupted their club of corruption,” Ms. Karamo wrote on X on Friday. “Our movement is not going away. We are bringing a righteous renaissance to the Republican Party.”
Critics of Ms. Karamo said the Michigan Party under her leadership was shrouded in secrecy and struggling with money.
On Thursday evening, Ms. Karamo tried to raise her leadership status at a Republican rally in Oakland County, near Detroit. a video recorded by The Detroit News showed she was harassed as party leaders chose delegates for next month's state convention. Some shouted that she was “off duty” and no longer the party's chairman.
The clash also played out in the western part of the state, where rival Republican factions in Kalamazoo County held simultaneous dueling party conventions Thursday.
At a community center in Scotts, Mich., a small town near Kalamazoo, a faction aligned with Ms. Karamo chose 44 delegates to send to the March 2 convention in Detroit. About 15 miles away, at 12th Street Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, the other faction chose 44 delegates to send to the convention that Mr. Hoekstra is organizing.
“It's crazy,” Fred Krymis said in the church lobby.
At the Karamo event, a projector showed a logo of the county's Republican Party. A sign indicated that outside observers were not allowed to record the proceedings due to intraparty litigation. A county sheriff's deputy stood guard and watched for violators.
In a brief interview outside the event, Rod Halcomb, the group's chairman, described Ms. Karamo as the “legitimate” leader of Michigan Republicans and said he believed the RNC's recognition of Mr. Hoekstra was “an incorrect decision.” used to be.
But at the other meeting, Kelly Sackett, the group's chairman, said it was time for the party to rally behind Hoekstra.
“That's the only way we're going to win our state back,” she said of Republicans, who have no control over state offices.
The divisions at the state level are mirrored by the two Kalamazoo groups, which are embroiled in a series of lawsuits accusing each other of defamation and hijacking the party's name and likeness.
Matthew DePerno, who defeated Ms. Karamo for party chairman last year, is part of the Kalamazoo faction that has coalesced around Mr. Hoekstra. An unsuccessful candidate for attorney general in 2022, he was indicted last year in a 2020 election equipment breach in an effort to help Trump overturn his loss in Michigan.
He mused Thursday evening that the party's turmoil could boil over at the Republican National Convention this summer.
“I think there will probably be two sets of delegates sent,” he said of Michigan's representation.
The RNC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on what would happen if rival delegates from Michigan appeared at the convention.
Mr Hoekstra says he has no illusions about the party he wants to lead.
“I understand and I know these divisions exist,” he said. “I'm not going to let them dominate, you know, our operations and our process for the next eight months. Our job is to win elections.”