In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, former President Donald Trump shocked pollsters when he bested Hillary Clinton in Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes, the narrowest margin of victory in the state’s presidential election history.
In doing so, he also became the first Republican presidential winner in the state since 1988, which was then controlled by a GOP governor and a Republican majority in both houses. Just seven years later, the Democratic Party in Michigan, for the first time in 40 years, now controls the House and Senate and the governor’s mansion, in addition to the secretary of state and attorney general positions.
In 2024, the Michigan GOP is in public leadership chaos, with the most challenging question for Republicans in the state today being, “How did we get here?”
Many fingers point to various culprits, but among a certain faction of the state party, one name continues to rise above all others: Trump.
“He’s done so much damage to the party here that it’s been decapitated,” said Jason Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party who has also worked as a campaign strategist for, among others, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“Since 2018, we’ve lost everything—key congressional seats, Oakland County Commissioner, both houses, and now the state is as blue as it was red. There was no one here to stand up to Trump and he was able to run roughshod,” he said to The Epoch Times.
But embattled Michigan GOP Chairwoman Kristina Karamo says some are pointing their fingers in the wrong direction.
Turmoil in State Leadership
Last weekend, 40 state Republicans voted to oust Ms. Karamo from her Michigan leadership position at an unofficial party meeting after a year of party turmoil beset with accusations of debt and lack of direction, and consistent infighting between those who have and do not have allegiance to former President Trump.Ms. Karamo refused to step down, and the Michigan Republican Party has denounced the gathering, calling it an “attempted coup” by a “rogue cabal of anti-grassroots establishment operatives” and saying the process was illegitimate according to the Michigan Republican Party bylaws and state election laws.
Another vote of the entire state GOP committee is scheduled for Jan. 13. Ms. Karamo told The Epoch Times she would abide by the result of the vote from the full committee.
Ms. Karamo, an ardent Trump supporter, took the state GOP helm last year after an unsuccessful run for secretary of state.
The leadership dispute has received national attention and is another example of divisions across the country in the GOP splitting those who align with President Trump from those who don’t, referred to as “Republicans in Name Only” (RINOs) by his supporters.
Michigan GOP precinct delegate and former Michigan House Majority Leader Rocky Raczkowski spoke to The Epoch Times about this label.
“For conservatives like me to be called a RINO, while I’m trying to expand the party, blows my mind and makes me realize the extremists that have taken hold,” Mr. Raczkowski said.
Wayne Kuipers, a Republican who served in the Michigan House and Senate from 1999 to 2010, doubts he’d be a viable candidate in today’s political climate.
“I think both parties have gotten pulled to their extremes in a lot of respects. What’s happening in the GOP is no different from what’s happening to the Democrats. There is no way I could be elected today,” he said to The Epoch Times.
Mr. Raczkowski blames self-content, pride, and redistricting for Michigan’s quick political shift from red to purple and then blue.
Consequences of Redistricting
Five years ago, the state attempted a citizen-led redistricting effort called the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which decided that seven state House districts were unconstitutional and had to be redrawn. But now, after a three-judge panel declared 13 districts unconstitutional in December, they have to be redrawn again.The panel concluded the districts were redrawn “overwhelmingly” based on race. A second mapping exercise is expected to significantly affect the 2024 elections, potentially favoring Republican candidates.
Mr. Roe agrees that the redistricting experiment in Michigan played a big role in Republicans losing their hold on the state.
“There’s no doubt about it. The final product showed that the rules and the law didn’t matter. They were not looking for representative democracy; they were trying to draw an outcome that favored Democrats.”
But the lines drawn in Michigan voting districts are faint compared to those drawn internally in the state party.
Michigan House Republican Rep. Matt Maddock is one of the Trump supporters who is outspoken about the former president’s influence on the party.
“The only people who blame Trump for losing Michigan are Trump haters who also believe we had the most secure election in history,” he said to The Epoch Times.
Ms. Karamo agrees.
“We have a bunch of traitors in this state who want to stop us because we’re constitutionalists,“ she said. ”We’re trying to move the party forward. The Grey Poupon Republicans who are the arrogant elitists feel the private country club mentality will take over. There is an intentional effort to squelch our efforts because they don’t want a populist movement to succeed, which means the Romney Republicans are done.”
Ms. Karamo said the drama between the party factions is never going to stop.
“Our country is on the line. If America falls, where do we go?” she said. “We’re in a battle for our republic. We’re fighting for our lives here. I’m not saying that to be dramatic. A lot of them are traitors to the republic, masquerading as Republicans. The constant internal chaos is by design, and it’s not just happening in Michigan; I’m just getting it the worst.”
