Defeated election conspiracists seek to lead Michigan GOP

Michigan's capital city is called "Lansing." The Republicans who lost their races for Michigan's top three statewide offices are not going to stop campaigning.

Two of the candidates who denied President Joe Biden's victory in the state have announced plans to run for the position that leads the state GOP, while the third is considering a challenge.

That is raising concerns within the party after it suffered a heavy defeat in Michigan, a state that is poised to play a pivotal role in the presidential race in four years' time. Their attempts to gain control of the party apparatus also show how far-right conservatives are trying to maintain their grip on the party's grassroots at a time when the GOP nationally is wrestling with its direction.

In announcing her intention to run for Michigan party chair, a community college professor who lost her race for secretary of state used the same kind of charged language she used throughout her campaign.

She said the state Republican Party had begun operating as mini-gangs instead of soldiers fighting for freedom, and that the state was on the precipice of tyranny.

She wrote that they needed to strike fear in the heart of the enemy at the gate.

After Democrats took control of all levels of power, the race for Michigan GOP chair will be decided at a February party convention. Democrats won control of both houses of the Legislature and beat the Republicans by large margins.

A course correction within the state Republican Party is what many state and national Republicans worry about.

It is difficult to think of a state where Republicans lost more than they did in Michigan. He said that the state party was no longer the traditional partner it had been in the past due to a chair that was not very active.

The chair is important because they don't have a statewide elected official or prominent Republican to speak for them.

Matthew DePerno has also announced he will seek the position. She lost the governor's race by 11 percentage points.

After winning the Republican primary for governor, she pivoted away from her earlier statements after she was endorsed by Donald Trump.

John Sellek, a Republican consultant in Michigan, said that the race was unique because it was the culmination of a battle between grassroots elements and the establishment. For the first time, this race is a choice between multiple candidates from the same political party.

The grassroots takeover was blamed for the Republicans' losses in the election. The Michigan GOP struggled due to a lack of high quality candidates and well-funded campaigns.

The Michigan Republican Party operated within the political reality that President Trump was popular among our grassroots and a motivating factor for his supporters, but provided challenges on a statewide ballot, especially with independents and women in the mid-term elections.

One of the reasons for the Democrats' sweep was the abortion rights ballot proposal. The heavily gerrymandered districts that had been drawn by Republican lawmakers were replaced by districts drawn by an independent citizens commission.

The memo was a perfect example of what is wrong with the party and there is an issue of leadership, according to the reply.

Ron Weiser won't seek reelection, while co-chair Meshawn Maddock isn't sure if she'll run. The Michigan Republican Party wouldn't comment on the chair competition, according to the party's spokesman.

The chair position will be decided by county precinct delegates at the convention. Jamie Roe, a GOP consultant and county delegate, expects delegates to attend the convention to support Trump.

It is not possible for the donors of the state to give DePerno or Karamo resources to regain power. Something will have to be done outside of the structure.

Some in the party still hope that a candidate will emerge that can unite both the grassroots and establishment sides of the party.

During a recent interview, Pete Hoekstra said that he is considering running. A spokesman for the state senator said that he was pushed by Republicans to run for the position.

He thinks he can unite the two sides of the party. He said the party needs to be rebuilt to bring together the grassroots activists with the legacy donors.

Although they didn't want to publicly support candidates that they thought were associated with Donald Trump, the legacy donors did support me through third party political action committees.

After the 2020 presidential election, the former tax lawyer rose to prominence in the party by pushing Trump's lies. A special prosecutor is considering charges against DePerno and others for trying to gain access to voting machines after the election.

According to Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, the biggest gift the Republicans can give is infighting within the state party.

Barnes thinks that a group of people who are interested in running for chair will support the kind of candidates that these people would back. That will help hold the legislature.

That's right.

The story has been changed. An earlier version of the story attributed a comment to someone else.

That's right.

Joey is a corps member for The Associated Press. A program called Report for America places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.