MichMash: Kristina Karamo faces backlash from Michigan Republicans
If Karamo is ousted, and its recognized by a court, the co-chair, Malinda Pego, will take over temporarily.
FILE - Kristina Karamo speaks to Michigan Republican Party delegates Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, in Lansing, Mich.
Michigan GOP Chairwoman Kristina Karamo is facing backlash from her fellow party members, with a vote to potentially oust her on the horizon. Jonathan Oosting, capitol reporter for Bridge Michigan, sat down with MichMash host Cheyna Roth to unpack the in-party disagreements in the Michigan GOP.
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In this episode:
- Kristina Karamo and the vote to oust her as Michigan GOP chair
- Charges coming from the Lee Chatfield case
- The major political stories coming in 2024
There has been a growing discontentment in the party with Karamo’s performance in her position, Oosting says.
“You need 75% of the state committee, which is about 100 people, but you only need 50 to call the meeting. I think with them calling the meeting, they are pretty confident they have the votes to oust [Karamo],” he said.
Karamo is not abiding to the calls for her resignation and is questioning the legality of the meeting.
How did Karamo lose so much favor with her party and did she come into the position with a decent majority or was there always an issue with her having this position? The answer, Oosting says, is a gradual loss of support due to the party not raising enough money under her watch.
“Big donors were leaving the party. They didn’t like Karamo or [Matthew] DePerno, but especially Karamo,” he said. “She said some very antagonizing things RINOs and the uniparty and a lot of this jargon we hear from far right or Trump purists. She vowed that she was going to woo small dollar donors, but it became clear the party was not raising funds.”
If Karamo is ousted, and its recognized by a court, the co-chair, Malinda Pego, will take over temporarily. The state committee will then meet again to appoint a new chair.
More from MichMash:
- Detroit Today: What the vote to oust Kristina Karamo means for Michigan Republicans
- MichMash: Investigation into Lee Chatfield’s alleged ‘criminal enterprise’ heats up
- MichMash: Michigan politics in 2023 and what’s to come in 2024
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