'Incompetent dumpster fire': GOP leader in key swing state pushed party to 'brink of bankruptcy'

21 December 2023

Calls for the ouster of Kristina Karamo, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, are growing following a long period of financial woes culminating with a recent disastrous fundraiser.

In a recent CNN report, Republicans in the Mitten State said the party has been in dire financial straits since Karamo — a far-right former community college professor who ran a failed campaign for Secretary of State in 2022 based largely on election denialism — took over in February of this year. CNN reported that as of November, the Michigan GOP was more than $600,000 in debt and had only raised $71,000 since March. A Comerica Bank attorney sent a notice of default letter to the state party last month for failing to pay interest on a loan in excess of $500,000.

"If I would have known that Kristina Karamo would have turned out to be such a tyrannical incompetent dumpster fire I would never have worked so hard to get her elected," wrote Michigan GOP state committee member Dawn Beattie in an email to other Republicans. "For that I apologize."

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Karamo's leadership has come under further scrutiny following a lackluster fundraising event typically known to be a boon to the state party apparatus. The recent Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference — which is typically attended by both high-profile national Republicans and wealthy donors — was deemed "a disaster" by Michigan GOP activist Warren Carpenter.

While the 2019 event was attended by then-Vice President Mike Pence, the only Republican presidential candidate to attend the 2023 conference was businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who is currently polling in 4th place. QAnon conspiracy theorist Jim Caviezel (who played Jesus in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ) was this year's keynote speaker, and was paid a six-figure sum for a 25-minute speech according to CNN. Other speakers included failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and far-right social media personality Zuby, who is a British rapper. Karamo's failed leadership has even resulted in conspiracy theories from other GOP leaders in the Mitten State.

"Simply put, we have been had. We are dealing with a group of people who are working to destroy the MIGOP prior to the super important 2024 election year. This is not happening, this year, by coincidence," Macomb County Republican Party chairman Mark Forton said in a statement calling for Karamo's removal.

Michigan is seen as a must-win battleground state in 2024. Its 15 Electoral College votes played a pivotal role in the last two consecutive presidential elections, first going to Donald Trump in 2016 before flipping to Joe Biden in 2020.

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