'I am going to stay out of it': Michigan GOP lawmakers keeping their distance from Trump campaign stop
When Donald Trump makes a campaign stop in Michigan on Sunday he is not expected to be surrounded by Republican lawmakers from the state who are keeping their distance from the twice-indicted former president.
According to the Detroit News, the former president is making a major campaign stop where he will speak at the Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner and the report states that there is a definite lack of enthusiasm for the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination.
The report notes, "Only a handful of the 72 Republicans who serve in the Michigan Legislature had publicly endorsed Trump's bid for another term as president by Thursday, a trend that highlights concerns among some GOP leaders in a state that once helped propel him to the White House."
Case in point is Rep. Ken Borton (R-Mich) who explained, "It's a hot-button issue in my district. I supported Trump the first time around. But I am going to stay out of it. Whoever the Republican candidate is who comes out of it, I'll be there for them 100%."
Rep. John Roth (R-Mich) is backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and bluntly stated Trump's obsession with his 2020 re-election loss is a contributing factor.
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“(If) we keep talking about 2020, we lose,” Roth explained. “It’s that simple. We have to go forward and look at the future.”
Rocky Raczkowski, a former state lawmaker, who chaired the Oakland County Republican Party during the 2020 and 2022 elections, explained that Trump has too much baggage to be effective as the 2024 presidential candidate.
"You would be a one-term president with a lot of arrows pointed your way," Raczkowski admitted. "And those arrows hurt our down-ballot candidates, and we need those down-ballot candidates to win races.”
"In 2022, the candidates whom Trump endorsed for governor, attorney general and secretary of state in Michigan all lost. The closest race was for attorney general, in which Democrat Dana Nessel defeated Republican Matt DePerno by 9 percentage points," the report continued before adding, "The problems at the top of the ticket helped Republicans lose control of the state House and state Senate for the first time in nearly four decades. Earlier this year, Trump endorsed DePerno to become chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, a contest he lost to Kristina Karamo, the former secretary of state candidate."
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