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Former President Donald J. Trump wrapped up the general election of Republican delegates in Michigan on Saturday during a raucous convention that threatens to worsen the situation in one of the most important battleground states. Deep rifts within the party were further exposed.
Trump, the Republican front-runner, has challenged former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations in Trump’s administration, in all but one of the state’s 13 districts. , received at least 90% of the votes.
The caucus-style event requires a simple majority in each district to win delegates, and Trump received 39 votes, matching the 12 he received in Tuesday’s Michigan primary. Haley won the contest along with four other delegates.
Trump’s dominance earlier this week left little doubt about the outcome of Saturday’s convention at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
But a protracted battle over the state party’s rightful leadership has spilled over into the courts, disqualifying an estimated 200 prominent Republicans from about 20 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Two groups boycotted the event and held breakaway conventions. One was at Houghton Lake, Michigan, over 160 miles to the north, and the other was at Battle Creek, Michigan, over 80 miles to the southeast.
Many of those denied certification were aligned with Cristina Karamo, whom party leadership voted to remove as state party chair in January. They replaced her with former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
Not all of Mr. Karamo’s supporters were shut out Saturday, with a group in Saginaw County jeering and making thumbs-down gestures as Mr. Hoekstra spoke. He acknowledged the friction.
“It might be a little bit abusive,” Mr. Hoekstra told attendees at one of his caucus meetings, held in a ballroom filled with chandeliers and portraits of President Gerald R. Ford. Grand Rapids.
Hoekstra denied to reporters that the derogation was an act of retaliation and said those who were denied did not properly register for the competition.
Ernest Dugan, a Saginaw County delegate and supporter of Mr. Karamo, said he is disgusted by the actions of party leaders who have criticized Mr. Karamo over the party’s financial and governance issues.
“The smell is everywhere,” Dugan said.
As a Black Republican, he said he is troubled by the message the party sends by ousting Karamo, who is Black.
“A person of color wants to join your group,” he said, adding, “So you kick her to the curb?”
Until Friday, it looked like a rival convention planned by Mr. Karamo months ago could compete with a convention Mr. Hoekstra hosted in Grand Rapids and sanctioned by the Republican National Committee. But after a series of court defeats over his removal as party chairman, Karamo abandoned plans to hold the event in Detroit.
“We need to unite around Hoekstra,” said Genesee County Republican Party Chairman Jay A. Fedewa. “It’s a shame they don’t want that.”
Trump, who won Michigan in the 2016 election and became president, then lost the state to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, confirmed Hoekstra as chairman amid a power struggle. There is.
Saginaw County party leader Debra Ell divided her loyalties to Karamo and the former president.
Elle, who wore a pin with Karamo’s photo on it, said: “To be honest, almost everyone — we love Trump, by the way — but everyone Trump supported in Michigan. I didn’t win,” he said. “So bless his heart. We love him, but he should stay out of our politics.”
Trump outperformed his performance in Tuesday’s primary at the convention, where one delegate suffered cardiac arrest. Hoekstra attributed the former president’s landslide victory to the fact that the process was limited to Republicans. Michigan’s primary elections are open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation.
“They’re focused on winning in November,” he said. “Right? I won’t fight other Republicans.”
Still, a woman remained nearby holding a “Hoekstra is a Fraud” sign.
At the secession rally in Houghton Lake, about 300 Republicans who boycotted the Grand Rapids convention held their own votes to elect delegates, but Hoekstra and the RNC said the move would not count. All votes went to Trump.
Dia Rendon, a former state lawmaker facing felony charges in connection with the post-2020 election voting machine break-in aimed at overturning Trump’s defeat in Michigan, presided over the event. She wore a blue Trump hat with a Q pin from the QAnon conspiracy movement.
“This will not affect the national elections,” Rendon said. “But what it does to our state party is that what we’ve done is gone back to the old white people’s party when we created a new grassroots party led by Cristina Karamo. It’s a young, dynamic, reborn version of the Republican Party that embraces the set of values the party has always claimed to represent. ”
The breakaway group then held what amounted to a straw vote, asking Karamo’s supporters to stand. They did the same to Mr. Hoekstra. No one took his side.
“It was a unanimous vote,” Rendon said.
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