It’s Primary Day in Michigan, and for much of the political world, there’s a great deal of interest in the size of the Democratic protest vote President Joe Biden might face. And while that’s certainly an angle worth watching as the results come in, let’s not brush past the contest in the other party.
On the surface, there’s not a lot of intrigue about who Michigan Republicans are likely to support: Donald Trump has won all of his party’s presidential nominating contests so far this year, and the results in the Wolverine State will probably keep the former president’s streak going.
But just below the surface, one of the most amazing things about Primary Day in Michigan is just how messy the GOP process will be. NBC News reported:
Michigan’s presidential primary is straightforward for Democrats. … Republicans, meanwhile, have themselves quite the puzzle. The GOP primary results will determine how 16 of Michigan’s 55 Republican National Convention delegates will be awarded. The 39 others will be decided Saturday at a state party convention, doled out based on the preferences of delegates from each congressional district.
Right off the bat, the fact that Michigan Republicans are holding both a primary and a convention, with competition for delegates in both, adds a layer of complexity to a process that’s far more straightforward in other states. (Even the rationale for the dual model is complicated, and has to do with the state GOP trying to comply with national party rules about holding nominating contests before March 1.)
But that’s not the funny part.
Rather, the truly amazing angle to this story is that the Michigan Republican Party is holding two state conventions because, to a hilarious degree, there are two Michigan Republican Parties.
As regular readers know, Kristina Karamo, the Trump-backed conspiracy theorist, was elected to serve as chair of the state GOP before being ousted by party officials, who in turn chose former Rep. Pete Hoekstra to lead the Michigan Republican Party. Karamo, however, said the vote to remove her didn’t really count, and she believes she’s still leading the state party.
Hoekstra and the Republican National Committee disagree, but Karamo apparently still controls the state GOP’s bank account.
So, who’s the current chair of the Michigan Republican Party? No one seems to be able to answer that question with certainty. This would be relatively inconsequential were it not for the fact that both Hoekstra and Karamo intend to host dueling nominating conventions this week — one in Detroit, the other in Grand Rapids — for the purpose of assigning most of the state’s 2024 Republican delegates. Which convention will count? No one knows that, either. Are things messy for Republicans at the national level? Yes. Are those conditions worse than Republican messes at the state level? No.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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