Michigan Republican Party Chair Kristina Karamo and other officials could face removal as the party enters into a critical presidential election year.
Karamo, who was elected as chair of the party following a failed bid as the Republican nominee for Michigan secretary of state in 2022, has faced calls for resignation from within the party, with eight of the party’s 13 district chairs issuing a statement voicing concerns about the party’s financial state.
Party Co-Chair Malinda Pego also signed on to a petition supporting a meeting to discuss the potential removal of Karamo as chair.
“As representatives entrusted with the responsibility of guiding our party’s trajectory into the critical year of 2024, it is incumbent upon us, the State Committee members, to ensure the values enshrined in our Republican Party platform are upheld. The upcoming election demands a united front and strategic planning to secure victory. This necessitates a cohesive and effective leadership structure within our party,” Pego said in a Dec. 22 statement to party members.
Breaking_ Co-chair Malinda Pego Speaks Out Against Chair Kristina Karamo!
According to a report from Bridge Michigan, the party has scheduled a special meeting for Saturday to consider the ouster of Karamo, as well as Executive Director Jim Copas, General Counsel Dan Hartman and Communications Director Robert Owens.
The party is also reportedly set to consider bylaw changes, including a proposed amendment to change the voting percentage for the removal of officers, and a proposed amendment regarding conflict resolution.
Warren Carpenter, a former Michigan Republican District chair who previously supported Karamo, told the Advance in a previous interview the party had enough votes to oust her as chair.
Karamo’s leadership of the party has been plagued with questions and concerns, with Carpenter sponsoring a 140-page report released in December alleging that Karamo’s leadership has put the party at risk of bankruptcy.
The former chair of the party’s budget committee, Matthew Johnson, raised similar concerns, and alleged that efforts to limit spending on party salaries resulted in Karamo removing him from the position.
Karamo has also been accused of going back on promises for transparent and accountable leadership by Pego and the district chairs calling for her resignation.
“The high turnover rate among your staff, the irreconcilable nature of [Federal Election Commission] reports, bank statements, financial statements, and the hiring of inexperienced individuals – including two with financial felony records – raise serious questions. You have also repeatedly avoided answering State Committee requests concerning these issues,” the dissenting chairs wrote in a Dec. 28 statement sent to party members.
“While we have chosen to mainly address financial concerns, our greatest concern stems from the lack of trust these examples have inspired. This betrayal is deeply felt. We cannot succeed without truthfulness, transparency and ethics,” the statement said.
Former Republican Attorney General candidate Matt DePerno — who Karamo ultimately defeated in her bid to lead the Michigan Republican party — also criticized party leadership after a closed-door meeting of the state committee made national headlines due to a scuffle between a party member and a party county chair.
“The current leadership — through its lack of transparency, secretive meetings, and failure to fulfill campaign promises — has become worse than which it claimed to fight against,” DePerno told the Advance.
While Karamo did not respond to the Advance’s request for comment, she told Detroit News reporter Craig Mauger that she would not recognize the meeting, Mauger shared in a post to X.
With the party planning to consider the removal of Karamo and other party officials, it would have been nice if this issue had been resolved in 2023, said Dennis Darnoi, a GOP strategist with Densar Consulting LLC.
“It’s just, I guess, a continuation of the dysfunction that we’ve seen from Michigan Republicans, you know, over the past three, four years,” Darnoi said.
Should Karamo be removed from her position as chair, Pego would become the acting chair until the party chooses a permanent replacement, Darnoi said.
“I guess the first question is how long will it take for them to go from that to having an acting chair? I guess the second question for me on the money side is could you go back and replicate what you did last cycle where you have a fundraising chair and you have a grassroots chair,” Darnoi said.
“I think Republicans would benefit by having two people taking over the day to day functions: one who’s focused specifically on the financial side of things and one who’s focused specifically on the electioneering side of things, because it’s a tremendous effort and to have one person and ask them to do both in this time,” Darnoi said.
Because of a lack of unity in who Republican donors and grassroots Republicans trust, it would be best to find two candidates to divide and conquer and to come in with a modified game plan for 2024, Darnoi said.
“Republicans aren’t going to have the ability to play in every single race that we would normally or Republicans normally would do,” Darnoi said.
“You’re going to have to come in with a modified game plan on how to succeed in 2024. You know, I think there’s still the time obviously, we don’t know what’s going to happen with redistricting. And if there’s going to be a trickle down effect in terms of what districts now become competitive,” Darnoi said.
On Dec. 22, a panel of three federal judges ruled that 13 of Michigan’s House and Senate districts — all of which are held by Democrats — must be redrawn after finding the districts were drawn predominantly on the basis of race, diluting Black voting power in the Detroit-area districts and violating the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
While in past years, the Republican Party had a unity of purpose and a clear platform, that unity is no longer present, Darnoi said.
“You have a faction of the party that wants to focus still on the 2020 elections and what they believe was, you know, a stealing of an election. You have, you know, Republicans who would focus less on that but more on the social issues, which we saw, you know, what the result of was two years ago,” Darnoi said
“And then you have I guess what I call the more traditional or pragmatic Republicans who see an opportunity,” Darnoi said.
These Republicans see an audience open to issues of the economy, government overreach and education, who may be disaffected Republicans or independents, Darnoi said.
When you look at the struggles of Republican parties in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia, these are battleground states where the party mechanism was taken over by supporters of former President Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Darnoi said.
In her race against incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Karamo’s campaign centered around Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, with Karamo repeatedly sharing baseless claims of voter fraud on Election Day. Karamo never conceded the 2022 election.
“Republicans in charge are continuing to, you know, talk about something that occurred three and four years ago, essentially to appease one person. They’re costing themselves opportunities,” Darnoi said.
“It’s not just Michigan there’s a common thread running through all of the GOP state parties that are struggling. And until that thread is kind of pulled we’re going to continue to hear stories about being disaffected, these state parties being dysfunctional, and no one willing to give money to the state parties,” Darnoi said.
In November, House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland) predicted Republicans would retake control of the chamber in 2024. Darnoi said he’s optimistic about their chances; however, it will be harder without the support of the state party.
While the Michigan GOP, the state House and their caucuses each have their own set of fundraisers with Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder and businessman Bill Parfet in charge of fundraising for the House Republican Campaign Committee, the state party is able to buy cheap airtime and send out bulk mailers. Because of the state party’s dysfunction, it will be more expensive to take back the House, Darnoi said.
Additionally under the current state maps, there are maybe 11 to 13 competitive districts where Republicans could swing seats, Darnoi said.
While the Republican caucus in the House is doing what it needs to be doing in order to compete, support from the state party would help bolster those efforts, Darnoi said.
However, he said retaining Karamo as chair would bode poorly for the party.
“All it would do is ensure that the state apparatus was bankrupt in every sense of that word, heading into a critical election. .… That would be, essentially, Republicans trying to go into a fight with both hands tied behind their back,” Darnoi said.
Majority Of The District Chairs Have Spoken!
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Kyle Davidson covers state government alongside health care, business and the environment. A graduate of Michigan State University, Kyle studied journalism and political science. He previously covered community events, breaking news, state policy and the environment for outlets including the Lansing State Journal, the Detroit Free Press and Capital News Service.
This article was originally published on Michigan Advance and republished here, with permission, under a Creative Commons License.
