Far-right extremists keep making the Michigan GOP lose key elections: report

23 August 2023

During the 2022 midterms races, many right-wing media pundits predicted that Democrats would get clobbered in Michigan. It didn't happen. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was reelected, defeating far-right Republican challenger Tudor Dixon by 11 percent.

Moreover, Democrats won majorities in both houses of the Michigan State Legislature. Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was reelected by 14 percent, and incumbent Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel enjoyed an 8 percent victory over MAGA Republican challenger Matthew DePerno.

Those wins followed President Joe Biden's win in Michigan in 2020.

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Benson was up against Kristina Karamo, a far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist and Christian nationalist who falsely claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump in her state. Karamo lost badly, but instead of distancing themselves from her, Republicans made her chair of the Michigan GOP.

Many Never Trump conservatives have argued that in order to regain the ground they have been losing in Michigan, Republicans should be nominating sensible moderate conservatives like former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). But in an article published in late August, Mother Jones' Noah Lanard warns that the Michigan GOP has been taken over by extremists — and keeps losing key races as a result.

"Just seven years ago," Lanard explains, "Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan since George H.W. Bush. But as the state GOP moved further and further to the right, Democrats capitalized on the extremism to string together major victories in 2018, 2020 and 2022, when they took full control of the state government for the first time in four decades. In the wake of this rout, the GOP has doubled down."

Lanard continues, "Karamo's ascension to chair is what a Republican Party freed from the constraints imposed by consultants and donors looks like in the Trump era. It is messy, short on cash, and arguably more democratic than ever before. While Karamo and her supporters fixate on 'election integrity' and culture war issues like transgender rights, convinced that it will lead to future victories, ousted moderates look on with schadenfreude. This battleground state fissure is a gift to President Joe Biden's reelection campaign and Democrats' efforts to hold an open Senate seat that is essential to maintaining control of the chamber."

Lanard points to an early June fundraising dinner as a prime example of the Michigan GOP's extremist direction.

Karamo, a featured speaker, ranted, "The Democrat Party is the party of Satan…. They're evil. They're definitely a Lucifer. But they have their standards, and they stick to 'em."

Karamo, according to Lanard, received "the only standing ovation of the night."

Mother Jones' full report is available at this link.

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