MICHIGAN: After months of infighting and poor fundraising, a number of Michigan Republicans decided to oust Kristina Karamo as state party chairperson, voicing worries that her leadership will harm the party’s chances in the crucial swing state in 2024.
Karamo, a grassroots activist and former community college instructor who was promoted to her position in February, has stated she will not recognize the results of Saturday’s vote, paving the way for a possibly chaotic legal dispute over party leadership.
Almost every state committee member present at the special meeting convened by Karamo’s detractors voted to remove her from her position, according to Bree Moeggenberg, a member of the state committee who assisted in setting up the gathering in Commerce Township.
“Our vote has been made to remove Michigan Republican Party Chair Kristina Karamo from her position. It’s time to work together and move forward,” a statement from Moeggenberg read.
Following her failed bid for Michigan secretary of state in 2022, Karamo announced her intention to grow the base of small donors while severing ties with the large donors she decried as belonging to the “establishment” in her bid for the party’s presidential nomination.
However, she has not fulfilled that pledge, and the lack of transparency in her government has infuriated many of her fans. There is a funding crunch as a result of the party’s biggest donors ceasing to contribute.
In a study published last month, former congressional district chair and erstwhile Karamo ally Warren Carpenter claimed that under her leadership, the state party was deeply indebted, on the “edge of bankruptcy,” and “essentially non-functional.”
Karamo did not answer queries seeking comment. The party declared via email on Friday that the meeting on Saturday was “by a faction of the State Committee” and that it was not authorized, as well as against party bylaws. The statement said that Karamo would attend a separately scheduled special meeting on January 13.
Former Michigan Republican Party executive director Jason Roe suggested that while a protracted legal battle could impede that effort, a strong new leader could help the party “right the ship” before the elections in November 2024.
According to previous party executives, the party’s current state of disarray has hindered it from carrying out its custom of organizing and financing Republican candidates.
Roe remarked, “I think the chaos is far from over.” “If this turns out to be a binding vote I don’t think she (Karamo) or her supporters will go quietly and there will probably continue to be skirmishes throughout the election cycle.”
Karamo’s administration declared as the extraordinary meeting began on Saturday that it will examine a proposal that would replace the current system of elective office selection by voters in a primary with precinct delegates in a caucus.
Several well-known Republicans in Michigan criticized the plan, which was scheduled to be reviewed at the meeting that Karamo organized for January 13. Some of them cautioned that the action would strengthen party insiders who are more inclined to promote extreme candidates while taking away votes from ordinary people.
Tudor Dixon, a 2022 governor candidate who lost, said of the Michigan Republican Party’s roughly 2,000 precinct delegates on social media, “instead of trusting voters, the Michigan Republican Party is now attempting to consolidate power into the hands of 2,000 people.”
“The MIGOP leadership has become what it claims it despises.”
