Splintered Michigan GOP Unlikely To Be Able To Support Nominee in Senate Race
With a tight race coming into focus and the state GOP in pieces, candidates in Michigan will have little support from the state party.
With polls indicating that Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin will be about evenly matched against any of her likely opponents in the race for one of Michiganâs U.S. Senate seats this year, questions about the effect of the state GOPâs meltdown over the past few years are beginning to percolate.
A survey of 600 likely voters commissioned by the Detroit News and WDIV-TV and conducted by the Glengariff Group found that respondents were about evenly split in supporting Ms. Slotkin or her three most likely opponents.
Against Congressman Mike Rogers, Ms. Slotkin leads 38 percent to 37 percent, with 25 percent undecided. Against Congressman Peter Meijer, the candidates are tied at 36 percent, with 25 percent undecided. Against Detroitâs police chief, James Craig, Ms. Slotkin trails 36 percent to 38 percent.
âAll three are essentially a toss-up. We see James Craig like 2 points ahead of Slotkin at this stage, simply because of, I think, increased name ID out of southeast Michigan,â pollster Richard Czuba told the Detroit News. âBut we see with the other two that itâs dead even. Theyâre all within the margin of error.â
The survey, which was conducted between January 2 and 6, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.
Even as the Senate primary ramps up in earnest, though, the state Republican Partyâs self-destructive streak has only escalated into the New Year. At a party meeting over the weekend, 88 percent of attendees voted to oust the chairwoman of the state Republican Party, Kristina Karamo.
Ms. Karamo, though, denounced the vote as illegitimate. The group that voted to oust her, in turn, elected a new chairwoman, Malinda Pego, and the two factions now maintain separate websites, both claiming to be the legitimate Republican Party of Michigan.
A political scientist at the University of Michigan, Jonathan Hanson, tells the Sun that the situation has left the party wholly incapable of supporting candidates in the state.
âFirst of all, the state party organization is in a mess,â Mr. Hanson tells the Sun. âThey havenât been raising money anywhere close to where they should be for an election year, so financially, the party is not in a position to assist any candidates running for office.â
Mr. Hanson says that the infighting between the âtraditional Republicans and a more assertive, aggressive MAGA Republican cohortâ resulted in the MAGA wing electing Ms. Karamo, who âseems to have been a really poor managerâ and oversaw the GOP breakdown in the state over the past few years.
Mr. Hanson says that two factors will be important in the election â who the nominees are and what the presidential election in Michigan looks like.
That most of the GOPâs nominees in 2022 were from the more extreme wing worked against the party in 2022, Mr. Hanson says. Nominating a candidate who is perceived as more moderate could help in 2024, he adds.
One thing potentially working in the partyâs favor is that President Trump has not expressed who is his preferred candidate in the race. Mr. Rogers has endorsed Mr. Trump.
âRecently Mike Rogers, whoâs one of the more well-known Republican candidates running, endorsed Trump, which I thought was pretty notable,â Mr. Hanson says. âI donât think that Rogers is actually a big fan of Trump, but I think Rogers thought he needed to endorse Trump to position himself in this primary.â
In the presidential race in Michigan, Mr. Hanson says that President Biden is showing âsignificant weaknessâ in the state, an issue that could affect down-ballot races.
While itâs not clear how perceptions of Messrs. Trump and Biden will evolve over the next 11 months, Mr. Hanson did note that âitâs not like weâre getting the 24/7 coverage of Trump and all the crazy things that he says,â and that Mr. Bidenâs standing in the state could improve as voters tune into the race.