Grassroots candidate Ms. Karamo won 58-42% despite her opponent DePerno having “nabbed the big name endorsements” such as Trump and My Pillow Exec. Mike Lindell…“Trump’s campaign lawyer, Christina Bobb, worked with DePerno on the convention floor.”…
2/18/23, “Karamo to lead Michigan Republican Party, beating Trump-endorsed DePerno," Detroit News, Craig Mauger, Beth LeBlanc, Lansing
“Kristina Karamo…will lead the Michigan Republican Party following an 11-hour convention and three rounds of voting Saturday at the Lansing Center.
Karamo, considered a favorite among the party’s grassroots
but viewed as divisive among the establishment,
beat out former attorney general candidate Matt DePerno,
in the third round of voting.
DePerno had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The Oak Park educator and conservative activist will take the reins months
after the Michigan GOP in November [2022]
lost long-held majorities in the House and Senate
and lost races seeking to oust the incumbent Democratic governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
She becomes the first Black person to lead the Michigan GOP.
After her election Saturday night, Karamo told The Detroit News her first priority as party chair is to grow the party with
everyday residents and individuals in “areas we’ve never penetrated, especially in urban America.” She said the party would
focus on local issues over national politics….
Jason Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party,
said “crazy” had trumped Trump at Saturday’s convention….
Karamo dismissed concerns about declining donations to the state party, saying that’s “going to change right away.”…
“People have to see something worth investing in,” she said,
“and the party hasn’t proven itself to be such.”
Karamo’s election as state party chair marks the first time in state history that both the Michigan Republican and Democratic parties are chaired by Black women. Last weekend, Democrats reelected Lavora Barnes to a third term as chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party….
Karamo, DePerno and Lansing political consultant Scott Greenlee were initially the top three vote-getters in what was a nine-person race at the start of the convention Saturday morning in downtown Lansing. They advanced to a second round before Karamo beat DePerno in the third and final vote.
Thousands of Michigan Republican Party delegates participate in the convention as they considered
who should be their new leader
after suffering historic losses in the November 2022 election….
Longtime GOP mega-donor Ron Weiser, a wealthy Ann Arbor businessman, opted against seeking another term as party chairman….
Before the November [2022] election, she [Karamo] unsuccessfully sued and asked a judge to require residents of Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, to vote in person or obtain their ballots in person at the clerk’s office.
A judge rejected the litigation, saying her claims were “unsubstantiated” or misinterpreted Michigan election law.
On Dec. 18, Karamo released a vision for the party that included converting “‘GOP-phobic youth’ by
transitioning schools from indoctrination to education,”
giving “precinct delegates control over the party”
and holding Republican elected officials “accountable to using the Constitution as their measure for governing.”
“Anyone who does not treat systemic election corruption commensurate with the state and national threat it is, should be disqualified from any position in party leadership,” Karamo’s plan said….
Matthew Wilk of Northville said Republicans can’t rely on the state party to do things the state GOP used to do.
“I think the party recreates itself locally. I think we’re going to focus on local issues,” Wilk said. “I think we’re going to do
local infrastructure and getting back to basics,
the blocking and tackling of winning elections.”
On Saturday morning, Macomb County Republican Chairman Mark Forton dropped out of the state chair race, leaving nine remaining candidates. Forton endorsed Karamo before the first round of voting. Forton said his decision was meant
to ensure that a “grassroots-type” hopeful had a chance to win.
“I honestly believe on the first vote she’s going to have the most votes,” Forton said in an interview on the convention floor of Karamo.
In order to win the chair position, a candidate had to receive more than 50% support.
DePerno and Karamo were viewed as the favorites because they have been working with delegates for more than a year as it was the delegates who nominated them for attorney general and secretary of state last year….
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer…won another term
with Democrats [in 2022] taking control of the Legislature
for the first time in 40 years.
A lawyer by trade, DePerno rose to political prominence challenging the 2020 presidential election results and spearheading a lawsuit over the vote in northern Michigan’s Antrim County.
In August, Nessel sought a special prosecutor to consider charges against DePerno and eight others over an alleged conspiracy to gain improper access to voting machines. The special prosecutor, D.J. Hilson, hasn’t yet announced a decision.
Trump…endorsed DePerno for party chair in January [2023]. Trump’s campaign lawyer, Christina Bobb, worked with DePerno
on the convention floor.”…
……………………………………………..
Added: Ms. Karamo’s opponent had “nabbed the big name endorsements” such as Trump and My Pillow Exec. Mike Lindell:
2/18/23, “Michigan G.O.P. Installs Kristina Karamo, an Election Denier, as Leader,“ NY Times, Neil Vigdor, Lansing
“Ms. Karamo won a majority of delegate votes at the state party’s convention in Lansing, the state capital, after three rounds of voting that — slowed by paper ballots and hand counting — went on hours longer than the period for which the party had originally rented the convention space.
Her victory appeared to be an upset of Matthew DePerno, another vocal champion of former President Donald J. Trump’s election falsehoods
who had his [Trump’s] backing in the leadership contest….
Democrats swept the governor’s race and other statewide contests last fall [2022], in addition to
flipping the full Legislature for the first time in decades….
Both Ms. Karamo and Mr. DePerno had called for reinventing the party’s donor base
to include more grass-roots supporters,
a departure from recent history when
Michigan Republicans had become reliant on prolific donors like Ron Weiser, the party’s departing chairman, and
the powerful DeVos family….
Both Mr. DePerno and Ms. Karamo were badly out-raised by their opponents in last year’s [2022] election, raising questions about their ability to mine cash from political donors….
Some current and former Republican leaders in the state have suggested that
Mr. Trump’s estranged former education secretary who
raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to have him removed from office
after the Capitol riot, is pulling back from the state party.
The DeVos family did not marshal dollars for Ms. Karamo and Mr. DePerno last year,
but it did pour $2.9 million into a super PAC supporting
Tudor Dixon,
a Trump-endorsed Republican who lost the governor’s race,
according to campaign finance records, and it gave at least $1 million to Michigan Republicans during the most recent campaign cycle.
Nick Wasmiller, a spokesman for the DeVos family, said they “invest based on enduring first principles, not fleeting flash points of the day” and in “those they believe have a serious and credible plan to win.”
While Mr. DePerno had nabbed the big-name endorsements,
including that of Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief executive who has sowed conspiracy theories about election fraud,
it was Ms. Karamo’s fan base that ultimately delivered her the victory. And to them, her refusal to accept defeat last fall seemed to be a factor….
Ms. Karamo also gained attention in November [2022] for leading Republicans in the filing of an 11th-hour lawsuit that was rejected by a Detroit judge, who said it would have resulted in disenfranchising tens of thousands of Detroit voters who had already cast absentee ballots. The judge said that Ms. Karamo and the other plaintiffs had produced “no evidence in support of their allegations” that the city’s procedures for handling absentee ballots were corrupt and violated state law….
Last August [2022], Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, a Democrat who went on to defeat Mr. DePerno in the November election, asked for a special prosecutor to be appointed to consider criminal charges against him and eight other election deniers in connection with what Ms. Nessel characterized as the illegal tampering with voting machines used in the 2020 election.”…
………………………………………..
Added: 2/18/23, “Donald Trump’s campaign lawyer, Christina Bobb, was working the convention floor with Matt DePerno’s campaign on Saturday [2/18]” and he still lost: Craig Mauger, Detroit News twitter
……………………………..
Added: In Nov. 2022, Michigan “Democrats maintained all top executive posts, flipped the state House and Senate, won three out of four contested congressional races, won all statewide education posts and retained their majority on the state Supreme Court.”
2/18/23, “Karamo beats DePerno in Michigan GOP chair race, moving the party further right," MichiganAdvance.com, Jon King
“That appeal ultimately paid off with Karamo defeating DePerno 58 to 42% on the final ballot. In the second round, she and DePerno were the top vote-getters above Scott Greenlee, a longtime political operative who had support from the donor class.
Karamo’s win means that with Lavora Barnes’ reelection as chair of the Michigan Democratic Party last weekend, Black women are, for the first time ever, leading both of Michigan’s main political parties….
Karamo, a one-time community college instructor, rose to prominence within the Republican Party for her devotion to the thoroughly disproven conspiracy that the 2020 election was stolen….She won Trump’s endorsement in that [Nov. 2022] race [for Mich. Sec. of State]….
That same base made it clear it wanted new leadership after Michigan GOP Chair Ron Weiser and Maddock
presided over
the GOP’s historic losses in last November’s election.
Maddock has been a staunch Trump ally….
The chair race came at a tumultuous time for the Michigan GOP after Democrats
maintained all top executive posts,
flipped the state House and Senate,
won three out of four contested congressional races, won all statewide education posts
and retained their majority on the state Supreme Court.
Following the calamitous 2022 election, Michigan Republican Party Chief of Staff Paul Cordes issued a memo blaming failed GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon for poor fundraising and a far-right campaign against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. The memo also took swipes at former President Donald Trump. That resulted in another round of finger-pointing from Dixon and others, including former GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, who declined to run again this year.
The Michigan GOP Twitter account has been dark since Feb. 10.”…
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