GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Over the weekend, the Michigan Republican Party, under the leadership of Chairman Pete Hoekstra, had their state convention at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The theme of the convention was aptly titled “up from the ashes,”
With a competing convention called by ousted MIGOP Chair Kristina Karamo cancelled, it was a full house in Grand Rapids with about 1,900 credentialed Republican delegates from all 13 districts in the state attending.
MORE NEWS: Grand Haven Man Sentenced in Meijer mPerks Scandal
The delegates caucused in their separate congressional districts at the hotel to determine which Republican presidential candidate would get the remaining 39 delegates to be sent to the Republican National Convention in July.
Trump wins all 39 delegates in state’s Republican caucus.
In the end, former President Donald J. Trump emerged victorious once again in the state, securing all of the delegates in Saturday’s Republican convention. This triumph followed his decisive win in the state’s primary earlier in the week, where he outperformed Nikki Haley by a substantial 41-point margin, earning 12 delegates compared to Haley’s 4.
Ultimately at the Grand Rapids convention, Trump got approximately 90 to 100% of the vote in every caucus and, in all, in addition to the delegates won during the state’s primary election, Trump secured 51 of the state’s 55 Republican delegates.
Trump emerged as the clear preference despite some reservations.
Monroe County delegate Kristy Whitson talked with the Detroit News about Trump being the only person who can shift the country back to normal. She expressed her feelings about the situation which many Republicans find themselves in by saying, “Do I like his personality? No. Do I like his attitude? No. But business wise, he had the country moving.”
Some Michigan Republicans attended alternative caucus meetings over the weekend in Battle Creek and Houghton Lake after they didn’t meet the deadline to attend the Grand Rapids gathering. Delegates from 24 counties, who had planned on attending the Karamo convention in Detroit, did not have their names submitted to Hoekstra’s MIGOP in time to attend the Grand Rapids convention.
It is unknown if their votes will have any relevance to the the MIGOP’s final tally as their congressional districts were able to be represented at the Grand Rapids convention by other delegates from their district.
Why the Republicans had to caucus.
The need for the caucuses arose due to Michigan Republicans splitting their primary into two parts after the state government, controlled by Democrats, violated the national Republican Party’s (RNC) rules by moving Michigan into an early primary state. In order to satisfy RNC rules, the caucus was
MORE NEWS: ArtPrize Returns to Grand Rapids Next Week
added to the MIGOP’s hybrid nominating system so that all Michigan Republican delegates would be accepted by the RNC.
Saturday’s convention took place shortly after a Kent County judge affirmed the removal of former Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo by party members in a January meeting. This decision officially handed control of the state party to former Rep. and Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, who has been recognized by both President Trump and the RNC as the legitimate party Chair of the state.
Fractured Michigan Republican Party unites over Trump.
Trump’s decisive victory in Michigan shows that despite a factional crisis within the state’s Republican party, his support remains intact with all party officials who presented a unifying message at the convention.
1st Congressional District caucus leader Jesse Opsemer told Bridge Michigan, “Even with divisions on some things, we’re still unified on the important stuff.”
Who is in control of what?
Meanwhile, former GOP Chair Kristina Karamo remains gagged regarding all things MIGOP, with a court order preventing her from presenting herself as the Chair of the party or hold dominion over the communications of the party or its bank accounts.
However, it’s unclear how much of the party’s operational apparatus has been turned over to Hoekstra as of late. The original website at MIGOP.org still has the old Detroit convention listed as the “MIGOP District Convention” and on the “Letter From the Chair” page about the convention, it has a photo of Karamo as the Chair.
Official MIGOP communications remain silent and appear to be under control of anti-Hoekstra faction.
The MIGOP Facebook page hasn’t had a post since Wednesday, February 27th when they posted about Georgia’s Fani Willis trial and has a video message from “Chairwoman Karamo” still pinned to the top of the page. Both things are also true for their social media X account.
Additionally, no emails have gone out from the MIGOP since February 27th when the party encouraged Republicans to vote.
Hoekstra had said last week that he expected control of the MIGOP website and bank accounts to be under his control “in short order” or “we will go back to court and hold her in contempt.”
Former MIGOP Chair Kristina Karamo continues to speak out about being removed from position.
Because Kristina Karamo can’t communicate as the “Chair” anymore because of a court order, she has been posting on her “Kristina Karamo” X account where she continues to argue her side of what
she deems to be facts, calling Hoekstra “Patriot Act Pete” and saying “people like that believe they are above the law.”
Karamo is also encouraging the state’s Republican precinct delegates to “keep fighting” to save the republic in a video posted to her social media X account.
Party’s committeeman and committeewoman also elected at convention.
During Saturday’s convention, voting also took place for the party’s national committeeman and committeewoman positions, which entail representing the state party at the national level and serving as liaisons for the RNC in local and state party subdivisions. The winners of these contests were Hima Kolanagireddy and Rob Steele.
At the convention, Kolanagireddy expressed her feelings about the state party’s future by saying she felt they will unite “once the dust settles down.” She went on to say, “It’ll take some time. There is a lot of hurt. And I think we will find our way, because at the end of the day, we are all Republicans. We need to unite in order to win.”
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.