Only 16 of Michigan’s 55 delegates to the Republican National Convention were at stake in Tuesday’s primary. The rest will be awarded at a state party convention Saturday. Former President Donald Trump defeated GOP rival Nikki Haley in the primary.
The split contests are the result of Republicans’ reaction to Democrats’ decision to shake up the party’s presidential nominating calendar after the 2020 election — demoting Iowa and New Hampshire, moving South Carolina and Nevada to the forefront and placing Michigan third in their new lineup.
Republicans opposed an earlier Michigan primary, which violated Republican National Committee rules limiting which states can hold contests before March 1. After Democrats, who control the legislature and the governor’s office, moved the Michigan primary to February 27 despite the Republican opposition, the RNC and the Michigan GOP came up with the hybrid model.
Further complicating matters: The Michigan GOP is in the middle of a battle over who actually leads the party, with two people who claim to be the party’s leaders scheduling dueling conventions Saturday.The RNC and Trump have recognized Pete Hoekstra, a former congressman and US ambassador to the Netherlands, as chair; Hoekstra scheduled a Saturday convention in Grand Rapids. However, Kristina Karamo, the election conspiracy theorist who the state party voted to oust in January, has refused to relinquish control, arguing that she was unlawfully removed. She has planned a convention in Detroit.
Kent County Circuit Court Judge J. Joseph Rossi on Tuesday affirmed Karamo’s removal as state party chair, saying that any actions she has taken since then on behalf of the party were “void and have no effect.” She has not yet said whether the convention she planned for Detroit would go forward. Regardless of Karamo’s actions, the RNC’s decision to recognize Hoekstra signaled that the party would accept delegates from the convention he will oversee.
