Michigan Republican Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson | Jim Runestad |
| Senate Leader | Aric Nesbitt |
| House Leader | Matt Hall |
| Founded | July 6, 1854; 171 years ago (1854-07-06), inJackson, Michigan |
| Headquarters | Lansing, Michigan |
| Student wing | Michigan Federation ofCollege Republicans |
| Youth wing | MichiganYoung Republicans MichiganTeen Age Republicans |
| Women's wing | Republican Women's Federation of Michigan |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Colors | Red |
| Michigan House of Representatives | 58 / 110 |
| Michigan Senate | 18 / 38 |
| Statewide Executive Offices | 0 / 4 |
| U.S. House of Representatives | 7 / 13 |
| U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
| Election symbol | |
.svg) | |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
TheMichigan Republican Party is thestate affiliate of the nationalRepublican Party inMichigan, United States, sometimes referred to asMIGOP.
Ronna Romney McDaniel was the chairwoman of the party, having been elected in 2015 by delegates to the Republican State Convention, in 2017, McDaniel becameRepublican National Committee Chairwoman, serving until 2024.[1] The Michigan Republican Party hosts a biennial political conference at theMackinac Island Grand Hotel called theMackinac Republican Leadership Conference. The event features notable national Republicans, senators, governors, and presidential candidates.[2]
Even though the Michigan Republican Party has historically been characterized by conservatism, the party took a hard-right turn afterDonald Trump won the presidency in 2016.[3][4][5][6] After the2020 United States elections, the Michigan Republican Party pushedfalse claims of fraud and sought tooverturn the election results.[7][8][9] A months-long Republican investigation found there was no evidence of widespread fraud and recommended for the attorney general to investigate some who had made such allegations for personal gain.[10]
Republicans have been elected to thegovernorship of Michigan in 27 of 48 gubernatorial elections. The first wasKingsley S. Bingham in 1855, and the most recent isRick Snyder, who was elected in2010, and then re-elected in2014.[citation needed]
After PresidentRichard Nixon resigned due to theWatergate scandal, Vice PresidentGerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States. Ford grew up inGrand Rapids and served as a U.S. Representative from Michigan from 1949 to 1973.[citation needed]
Following the 2016 election andReince Priebus' selection to beWhite House Chief of Staff, Michigan Republican Party ChairmanRonna Romney McDaniel became Chairwoman of theRepublican National Committee. Then-President-elect Trump recommended McDaniel in December 2016 to replace Priebus.[11] She was officially elected as RNC chair on January 19, 2017, becoming the second woman to hold the post in RNC history, afterMary Louise Smith.[1]
AfterJoe Biden won the2020 presidential election in Michigan andDonald Trump refused to concede, the Michigan Republican Party pushed false claims of fraud and sought to overturn the election results.[7][8][9] In January 2021, the Michigan Republican Party sought to replace GOP member Aaron Van Langevelde on the Michigan Board of Canvassers; he had previously voted to certify the Michigan election results in favor of Biden.[12] One of the candidates that the Michigan Republican Party sought to nominate to that position was Linda Lee Tarver, who had been involved in efforts to overturn the election results.[12]
According to theAssociated Press, since Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election and Michigan swinging back to the Democrats, the Michigan GOP have taken a hard right-wing turn. The shift has altered the once moderate character of the state GOP and has instead embraced more right-wing elements.[13] In 2021, the executive director of the Michigan GOP resigned after he declined to say that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump; delegates in the Michigan GOP had called for him to be fired for his remarks.[14] Increasing internal divisions within the Michigan Republican Party led to a violent physical brawl at a state committee meeting in 2023, during which one party activist allegedly kicked a committee member in the groin and broke his rib.[15]
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Both of Michigan'sU.S. Senate seats have been held byDemocrats since2001.Spencer Abraham was the last Republican to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate. First elected in1994, Abraham lost re-election in2000 to DemocratDebbie Stabenow.
Out of the 13 seats Michigan is apportioned in theU.S. House of Representatives, 7 are held by Republicans:
| District | Member | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jack Bergman | .jpg) |
| 2nd | John Moolenaar | .jpg) |
| 4th | Bill Huizenga | .jpg) |
| 5th | Tim Walberg | .jpg) |
| 7th | Tom Barrett | .jpg) |
| 9th | Lisa McClain | .jpg) |
| 10th | John James | .jpg) |
Michigan has not elected any GOP candidates to statewide office since 2014, whenRick Snyder,Brian Calley,Bill Schuette, andRuth Johnson were re-elected as governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, respectively. In 2018, term limits prevented all four politicians from seeking third terms. Schuette ran as the Republican nominee in the2018 gubernatorial election withLisa Posthumus Lyons as his running mate and was subsequently defeated by Democratic challengerGretchen Whitmer and running mateGarlin Gilchrist whileTom Leonard and Mary Treder Lang ran as the Republican nominees for Attorney General and Secretary of State and were subsequently defeated by Democratic challengersDana Nessel andJocelyn Benson.
The following are in order of presidential succession.
| Name | Cabinet position | Years served | President(s) served under |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Erwin Wilson | Secretary of Defense | 1953–1957 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Zachariah Chandler | Secretary of the Interior | 1875–1877 | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Roy D. Chapin | Secretary of Commerce | 1932–1933 | Herbert Hoover |
| Frederick H. Mueller | Secretary of Commerce | 1959–1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| George W. Romney | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | 1969–1973 | Richard Nixon |
| David Stockman | Director of Office of Management and Budget | 1981–1985 | Ronald Reagan |
| Spencer Abraham | Secretary of Energy | 2001–2005 | George W. Bush |
| Betsy DeVos | Secretary of Education | 2017–2021 | Donald Trump |
| Russell A. Alger | Secretary of War (obsolete) | 1897–1899 | William McKinley |
| Truman Handy Newberry | Secretary of the Navy (obsolete) | 1908–1909 | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Edwin Denby | Secretary of the Navy (obsolete) | 1921–1924 | Warren G. Harding |
| Calvin Coolidge | |||
| Arthur Summerfield | Postmaster General (obsolete) | 1953–1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Ben Carson | Secretary of Housing & Urban Development | 2017–2021 | Donald Trump |
TheMichigan Republican State Committee is the state central committee of the Michigan Republican Party. It is composed of seven members from each of Michigan's Congressional district Republican committees, the Chairman, Co-Chairman, the various Vice Chairmen of the Party, and the Secretary, Treasurer and General and Financial Counsels. It selects Michigan's two representatives to theRepublican National Committee. Additionally, the Chairperson of each County Republican Party organization is a non-voting ex officio member of the State Committee.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Chair | Jim Runestad |
| Co-Chair | Bernadette Smith |
| Grassroots Vice-Chair | Chris Long |
| Administrative Vice-Chair | Cheryl Constantino |
| Coalitions Vice-Chair | Susan Kokinda |
| Outreach Vice-Chair | Rola Makki |
| Ethnic Vice-Chair | Michael Farage |
| Youth Vice-Chair | Krish Mathrani |
| National Committeewoman | Hima Kolanagireddy |
| National Committeeman | Dr. Rob Steele |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
